Search - Gabriel Tacchino :: Satie: Piano Works

SUCCULENT AND SUNDRY SATIE

Melvyn M. Sobel | Freeport (Long Island), New York | 07/15/2003

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This attractive and attuned Satie compilation from Tacchino, spanning the composer's eclectic career, rewards the listener with some of the most finely etched, sensitive and charming playing available. The popular Trois Gymnopedies [1888] offers just the right balance of sustained, nostalgic melancholy, and the wonderful Six Gnossiennes [1890-99], a mixture of mystery (Nos. 1-4), beauty (particularly No. 5) and perturbation (most ostensibly No. 6). The clever Sonatine Bureaucratique [1917] is tweaked by Tacchino to smack even more cleverly of a latter-day Scarlatti or, perhaps, Clementi, each note a pearly, articulated gem; and the lyrically inviting Valse ("Je Te Veux"), a real find, is memorable at every turn. The Veritables Preludes Flasques [1912], Croquis Et Agaceries D'Un Gros Bonhomme En Bois [1913], and Les Trios Valses Distinguees [1914] are contagiously quirky and moody in their unique brevity, the appeal of which Tacchino hones with a secure combination of wit and eloquence. All stops are pulled, though, when the pianist tackles the outrageously irreverent Sports Et Divertissements [1914], arriving at the conclusion of his recital. These "snippets," whose lengths vary from a mere sixteen seconds ("La Chasse") to a tad over a minute ("Le Tango"), are pure Satie, nose-sniffing pokes at the musical establishment, the world, and life in general, and even when appearing serious (as in the opening "Choral inappetissant"), are never, ever such. [Running time: 57:46]"