About this Artist

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Editorial Reviews

Having recorded the complete works of Debussy and Ravel, French pianist Jean-Yves Thibaudet now turns to the music of Erik Satie, offering a first look at another planned integral set. It presents a welcome mix of the familiar and unfamiliar, the serious and the silly, including several world-premiere recordings. The three Gymnopédies are certainly Satie's best-known works, and they are scattered throughout the program, appearing suddenly, like familiar friends that one encounters unexpectedly. Thibaudet plays them -- and the other slow, mesmeric pieces -- quite lovingly, using plenty of rhythmic freedom, yet he miraculously manages to preserve their essential atmosphere of purity. The Gnossiennes are especially affecting in Thibaudet's hands, and the pianist offers the recently published seventh piece of the set (though Satie fans will already know this music, as it also appears in the popular Trois morceaux en forme de poire). Most of the other works are lighter in mood -- lilting waltzes or more exuberant dances -- each of which Thibaudet plays with panache. The odd charms of Satie's music have rarely seemed so beguiling. Andrew Farach-Colton, Barnes & Noble

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