The 3 CD collection is available as "The Most Famous Works", Forlane (16591, 16592, 16593 are numbers for individual discs, but they also each are sometimes used to refer to the entire box set.) A earlier, single CD collection is available as Forlane 10514.

Fanfare William Zagorski, Mar/Apr 90:
(reviews the 3-CD collection)

I grew up with Aldo Ciccolini's first, pioneering, somewhat integral Satie collection. I've generally given it high marks because for many years it was virtually the only act in town; and despite the fact that a few isolated pianists (William Masselos comes to mind) were able to perform this or that piece with greater flair and insight, most of the competition was decidedly inferior to this pioneering effort, and to Ciccolini's new, sonically cleaner digital remake as well (at the time of this writing, I've only heard Vol. 1)

A single-disc Clidat Satie collection disc, Forlane 10514, which I have not heard, has been in the catalog for some time. This three-disc collection, I suspect, is the same as the one once listed as Pantheon D-16611 [AAD]. It was recorded in 1982 and boasts the best piano sound I have yet encountered in this repertoire. This is my first hearing of this production, and, on balance, I am very impressed, not only with the sound, but with Clidat's colorful and nuanced playing. Though not as poised and gracious as Pascal Rogé, whose distantly miked sound vitiates the effect of his lovely performance somewhat <Rogé 2nd CD>, <Tacchino review>; or as gutsy and exuberant as Anne Queffélec <Queffélec first CD>…; her romantic, but classically tempered approach enables her to find the individual "voice" of each piece. One comes away with an appreciation of the musical variety to be found in this oeuvre. Next to these performances, Ciccolini, both past and present, seems hard-edged and dour. Next to Ciccolini, Jean-Pierre Armengaud, however, seems hard-edged and dour <Armenguad review>, it's all relative.

The producer of this release has wisely sequenced the music so that consecutive pieces contrast each other, often tellingly, thus avoiding the stultifying effective of Armenguad's collection where five, or is it eight, or is it twenty - it's easy to lose count when one's mind is so thoroughly benumbed - secco pieces of the same meter and tempo follow each other in grim succession.

At the moment, this is the most satisfying large collection of Satie to come my way.

<Zagursky makes more comparisons in the Legrand review.>

American Record Guide July/Aug 90, Ashby:
(reviews 3-CD collection, compares to Rogé)

There have always been (and will forever be) those who call Satie's music empty and negligible, or important only for the aesthetic it demonstrates. As long as there are advocates as eloquent as France Clidat and Pascal Rogé, there will also be those who find its artless charms irresistible. The interpretive stances of these two French pianists are perfectly contrasted: Rogé is eager to seek out beautiful, impressionistic realms beneath the humble exteriors, while Clidat presents little in the way of interpretive embellishment. The former cultivates a rich sonority in a pleasantly wet acoustic, while the latter is simple, clear, and a little dry in sound. Rogé seizes upon Satie's lyric gifts and lusher harmonies, while Clidat creates a wide dynamic range and likes to keep the listener from settling too far back into the easy chair - occasionally, as in several of the Nocturnes and Gnossiennes, I thought this impulsiveness excessive, but was also grateful to have her de-emphasize Satie's purposive prognostications of Muzak (or "Furniture Music", as he called it.) A good deal more of the piano oeuvre was included by Armengaud in his recent four-disc set, which I found often dull an insensitive. Clidat certainly includes all the important works: the only items I miss from the Armengaud set are the four Ogives, not prime Satie but enigmatic little epigrams that never fail to haunt the memory. And the Forlane sound is more appealing than the strident Ciccolini. <see Fanfare Tacchino review for a few more comparisons>.