“Crystal Dream” = Piano Pieces of ERIK SATIE & TAKASHI YOSHIMATSU – Pascal Rogé, piano – Octavia Records Triton multichannel SACD OVCT-00052, 73:26 ****:
French pianist Pascal Rogé – known mainly for his recordings of works by Chopin and by various French composers – has put together interesting short impressionistic and delicate piano pieces by his well-known countryman Satie, interspersed with equally ethereal-sounding pieces by contemporary Japanese composer Yoshimatsu. The program was recorded in Tokyo in very detailed and clear 5.0 hi-res surround sound.
The Satie pieces start off with his Gynopedies and Gnossiennes and later includes several less-familiar pieces. The Yoshimatsu works, from a totally different time and culture, all come from his Pleiades Dances I-VIII, and bear such interesting descriptive titles as “Romance to a Listless Summer, “Interludes with Birds,” and “Interrupted Faint Prelude.” If his works don’t quite match the witty and less-is-more perfection of Satie’s pieces, at least some of their titles seem to be a perfect match!
After six Satie-followed-by-Yoshimatsu couplings, we have four Yoshimatsus in a row followed by three Saties. The Pleiades Dances were mainly composed in the mid-1980s, inspired by the Pleiades star cluster, which has many different names in Japan, of which the most-used is Subaru. The note booklet is entirely in Japanese, but the album comes with a handy English note insert as well.
TrackList:
Gymnopédie No. 1 (Satie)
Interlude To Water (Yoshimatsu)
Gnossienne No. 1 (Satie)
Romance From The Past (Yoshimatsu)
Gnossienne No. 4 (Satie)
Nonchalantry Preludes (Yoshimatsu)
Gymnopédie No. 2 (Satie)
Globular Romance (Yoshimatsu)
Gymnopédie No. 3 (Satie)
Arabesque In Twilight (Yoshimatsu)
Gnossienne No. 3 (Satie)
Prelude To A Little Spring (Yoshimatsu)
Romance To A Listless Summer (Yoshimatsu)
Barcarole On Autumn (Yoshimatsu)
Pastoral On Winter (Yoshimatsu)
Tyrolienne Turque
Danse Maigre
Espanana
Interludes With Birds (Yoshimatsu)
Gnossienne No. 2 (Satie)
Gnossienne No. 5 (Satie)
Memory Of Interlude (Yoshimatsu)
Reverie Du Pauvre (Satie)
Interrupted Faint Prelude (Yoshimatsu)
Caresse (Satie)
Je Te Veux (Satie)
Distant Dream Romance (Yoshimatsu)
Gnossienne No. 6 (Satie)
Noel In Midnight (Yoshimatsu)
Sarabande No. 3 (Satie)
Static Dream (Yoshimatsu)
— John Sunier
