Yitkin Seow's 1989 recording of Erik Satie's popular miniatures for Hyperion is a fine choice among a handful of excellent recordings. Whether or not one has a preference for the critically acclaimed albums by Pascal Rogé or Aldo Ciccolini, Seow's polished performances are in the same league and differ only slightly in terms of rubato, dynamics, and phrasing. Satie's music is somewhat rarefied, eccentric, and vaguely surrealistic, but also limited in emotional range and style. Pianists must contend with his thin textures, ...
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Yitkin Seow's 1989 recording of Erik Satie's popular miniatures for Hyperion is a fine choice among a handful of excellent recordings. Whether or not one has a preference for the critically acclaimed albums by Pascal Rogé or Aldo Ciccolini, Seow's polished performances are in the same league and differ only slightly in terms of rubato, dynamics, and phrasing. Satie's music is somewhat rarefied, eccentric, and vaguely surrealistic, but also limited in emotional range and style. Pianists must contend with his thin textures, abrupt changes of mood, and unusual harmonic voicings in much the same way: with refined delicacy, as in the three Gymnopédies, the six Gnossiennes, and the five Nocturnes, or with irreverent, punchy vigor, as needed in Sports et divertissements, Heures séculaires et instantanées, and the Sonatine bureaucratique. Seow's playing is on the subdued side -- the very antithesis of Romantic pianism, which Satie would have applauded -- and his interpretations have a veiled quality that makes...
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