<<  -- 3 --  Brian Howes    PLAYING HYPOCRITICALLY

These are all played straight and cleanly, as I expect Satie would have wished. I have heard Pascal Rogé play Satie poetically and with more expression, but, perhaps, in a manner less appropriate to the genre. Chapitres tournés en tous sens (Chapters turned in all directions) are three character pieces telling bizarre stories, and are given the kind of treatment they require. More interesting, perhaps, is Le fils des étoiles. It consists of preludes to each of three acts of a play by Péladan set in Chaldaea in 3000 BC. Although it is rather stolid rhythmically, the harmonies are remarkable, and the pieces, unmarked dynamically, are given a sensitive performance.

Passing over three pieces, all typical of the composer's approach, I must mention Sonatine bureaucratique, reworkings of a sonatina by Clementi, with an attached Satanic story and a neat touch of neoclassicism. The penultimate tracks contain Sports et divertissements (Sports and Entertainments) [listen -- track 29, 0:00-0:29]. It is reckoned as Satie's masterpiece. Originally it was published with drawings and a surrealistic text to be read pell-mell over sometimes very loud music, not performed on the disc. It is a fitting finale to an entertaining record, and is presented with humour and panache. The excellent notes by Dickinson regrettably do not include titles of the twenty one pieces in Sports et Divertissements.

For help listening to the sound extracts here, please refer to our questions & answers page.