Harmonia Mundi
2009
Erik Satie: Avent Dernières Pensées
About This Album
With Harmonia Mundi's Avant-dernières pensées, young French pianist Alexandre Tharaud weighs in on the piano music of Erik Satie. He might as well, given the veritable glut of Satie-themed releases -- both old and new -- since the start of the twenty-first century, although this one stands apart from the rest in several respects. Wisely, Tharaud does not give us an "intègrale," but selects what he likes and is best suited for him, dividing it into two discs; one of piano solo works and a second of duos. The duos disc consists of Tharaud in consort not only with other pianists in Satie's important four-hand music -- and he is ably abetted by pianist Eric le Sage on those -- but he also extends the programs to Satie's duets of other kinds: chansons, violin and piano pieces, and the trumpet and piano duo La Statue retrouvée. Tharaud's violinist here is the redoubtable Isabelle Faust, and she joins him here on what appears to be the first recording of Satie's incomplete Embarquement pour Cythère (1917), an abandoned work tidied up by editor Robert Orledge.

Tharaud's stated purpose is to provide the widest range possible for Satie's activity and forward influence in the course of two discs, and in this respect Tharaud is more successful than the standard intègrale type collection would have been.
Track List

Disc 1

Gnossienne For Piano No. 1
1.
Petite Ouverture À Danser, For Piano
2.
Gymnopedie For Piano No. 1
3.
Véritables Préludes Flasques Pour Un Chien (Truly Flabby Preludes For A Dog), For Piano
4.
5.
6.
Gnossienne For Piano No. 2
7.
Les Valses (3) Distinguées Du Précieux Dégoûté (3 Distinguished Waltzes Of A Disgusted Dandy), For Piano
8.
9.
10.
Gnossienne For Piano No. 3
11.
Le Piccadilly, March For Piano
12.
Descriptions Automatiques, For Piano
13.
14.
15.
Gnossienne For Piano No. 4
16.
Les Pantins Dansent (The Puppets Dance), For Piano
17.
Le Piège De Méduse, Dances For Piano
18.
19.
20.
21.
22.
23.
24.
Pièces Froides (Cold Pieces), Pieces (6) For Piano
25.
26.
27.
Avant-dernières Pensées (Next-to-last Thoughts), Pieces (3) For Piano
28.
29.
30.
Carnet D'esquisses Et De Croquis (Notebook Of Sketches And Rough Drafts), For Piano
31.
Embryons Desséchés (3 Dried-up Embryos), For Piano
32.
33.
34.
Gnossienne For Piano No. 5
35.
Valse-ballet, For Piano
36.
Heures Séculaires Et Instantanées (Age-old And Instantaneous Hours), Pieces (3) For Piano
37.
38.
39.
Première Pensée Rose + Croix, For Piano
40.
Poudre D'or (Gold Dust), For Piano
41.
Gnossienne For Piano No. 6
42.

Disc 2

Morceaux (3) En Forme De Poire (3 Pieces In The Form Of A Pear), For Piano, 4 Hands Or Orchestra
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
Je Te Veux (I Want You), Café-concert Song For Voice & Piano
8.
Chez Le Docteur (At The Doctor's), For Voice & Piano
9.
J'avais Un Ami, Song For Voice & Piano
10.
La Diva De L'Empire, Song For Voice & Piano
11.
La Belle Excentrique, "serious Fantasy" For Orchestra (or Piano, 4 Hands)
12.
13.
14.
15.
16.
Choses Vues À Droite Et À Gauche; Sans Lunettes (Things Seen Right-to-left; Without Glasses), For Violin & Piano
17.
18.
19.
Cinéma: Entr'acte Symphonique De Relâche, For Orchestra (also Piano; Also Arr. By Milhaud For Piano, 4 Hands)
20.
Mélodies (3) Of 1916, For Voice & Piano
21.
22.
23.
24.
25.
26.
La Statue Retrouvée, Incidental Music For Trumpet & Organ
27.
Embarquement Pour Cythère, For Violin & Piano (completed By Robert Orledge)
28.
Allons-y Chochotte, Song For Voice & Piano
29.