3 CDs Philips 426 444-2

Early Piano Works Also available separately: CD 412 243-2 - Gnossiennes · Danses gothiques CD 420 472-2 - Gymnopédies · Ogives · Sarabandes CD 420 473-2 - Pièces froides · Sonneries · Préludes

Note: I'm not including reviews of De Leeuw's old LP's from the 70's, which were repackaged onto CD in the 80's (shown above). The newest issue of CD's duplicate the old performances with better recordings. The old reviews, like the new reviews, just say that he plays too damn slow. I have posted one review from the LP era recordings as part of a comparison with Rogé and Queffélec, where you can discover that De Leeuw plays too damn slow.

But guess what - there is a pianist who plays with slower tempos than De Leeuw!

AndrewWilson emails:
"You don't list de Leeuw's analogue 3 CD set, "Early Piano Works", Philips 426 444-2. This is still in the catalogue, and the individual volumes are also available separately."

Asked to compare old and new:
"Well, they're both slow... I've not compared them back-to-back, but I think they're quite similar. I must say that I feel that they work at this pace. I'm sure that I'm influenced by this being one of the first Satie records I ever bought."

Gnossiennes
Gymnopédies
Ogives
Petite ouverture à danser
Sarabandes

rec 1995

From Gramophone Feb 96, Christopher Headington:

Tender, solemn, droll, silly and occasionally plain boring, Satie's piano music has certainly proved its appeal for performers and record collectors, judging from the number of recitals devoted to it. But this one is out of the ordinary, for unlike the majority of artists, who offer a mixed bag of pieces, Reinbert De Leeuw has chosen music that is entirely solemn and even hieratic in utterance. He begins with the archaically beautiful Gnossiennes, taking the first of them unusually slowly, but with compelling concentration. The composer's devotees will be thrilled, though you have to surrender completely to get the message of this repetitive, proto-minimalist music.

The four Ogives derive their name from church architecture and their unbarred, diatonically simple music has clear affinities with plainchant, although unlike chant it is richly harmonized. Monotonous it may be, but that is part of its charm, if that term can apply to such a contemplative style. The very brief Petite ouverture à danser is a mere meandering sketch in lazy waltz-time, but all Satie is sacred to the converted and the writer of the booklet-essay accords it four lines, finding it (as translated here) "a suggestion of indifference, vacillating between a melancholy melody and indecisive harmony." (Not exactly Beethoven, one might say.) The two pensively sad triptychs of Sarabandes and Gymnopédies - here very slow yet tonally most refined - complete this finely played and recorded disc, which offers nothing whatsoever of the bouncier café-concert Satie.

From David Gregson at San Diego Online:

A sure cure for insomnia is the new Reinbert de Leeuw disc of Erik Satie pieces on Philips Classics. These are the slowest tempi I have ever heard...and not just for Satie. For just about anything! I mean, this man plays s-l-o-w! All your favorites -- the Gnossienes, Ogives, Sarabands, Gymnopédies -- go on for hours. I actually play this disc over and over when I'm stressed and don't have any valium around. Highly recommended for hypertension...or for a conversation piece with pianists and Satie fans.

See comparison with Höjer.

From American Record Guide, Jan/Feb 97, Mark Koldys:

Lovely playing, sumptuous sounds, relaxed tempos - everything you would expect to hear playing in the background as the screen shows a young couple sitting in front of a fire sharing a bottle of fine wine. I can't fault the effect of De Leeuw's playing, but as one wave of Satie after another washes over the listener, it becomes clear that the pianist is more concerned with a consistent style than with characterizing individual pieces. If you are going to listen to the music, rather than just hear it, someone like Rogé (London) would be a better bet. For me, this 67 minutes of sameness induced satiety.

Stereo Review Dec 96, J.J.:

The work "quirky" is could have been invented for Erik Satie. He got his start as the pianist and composer for a mystical cult that claimed to have ties to ancient Babylonia; once, although desperately poor, he turned down the commission because the fee was too high! Yet his compositions for solo piano are imbued with a deep, exquisite sense of melancholy. The challenge for the performer is somehow to accommodate these apparently conflicting emotions, to be at once nostalgic and playful.

In this well-chosen, atmospherically recorded compilation of some of the best-known ones, the Dutch pianist Reinbert de Leeuw succeeds better than most. He is daring in his tempos. The Gnossiennes, for instance - the absurd title was invented by the composer to suggest the mysticism of the Gnostics, but it has no actual meaning in French - are meant to be played as slowly as possible while still retaining the musical line. De Leeuw , skillfully employing the pedal, manages to spin out these mournful little whimsies to the fine texture of cotton candy.

Gramophone March 97, Tim Parry:
Note: the Quatre préludes are Fête donnée par des Chevaliers, Normands en l'honneur d'une jeune demoiselle, Prèlude d'Eginhard, Prèludes du Nazaréen)

The piano music of Erik Satie, beyond the ubiquitous Gymnopédies, is something of an acquired taste. Reinbert de Leeuw here explores many of the lesser-known works, and as Jérémie Rousseau says in his excellent accompanying notes, " a stylistic consistency comes through - verticality, concentrated delivery, static rhythms, symbolic trinities, motionlessness, impassivity … his mystical asceticism becomes almost a form in itself." Unfortunately, this stylistic uniformity leads to a sense of tiresome monotony. This disc contains a succession of very slow pieces with textures so sparse they make the Gymnopédies seem florid by comparison; furthermore, although the pieces are in themselves slow and spare, de Leeuw plays them in such a protracted manner that the effect is almost cataleptic.

Perhaps the most interesting works offered here are the Prèlude d'Eginhard and the Rose-Croix pieces. The detachment of de Leeuw's playing emphasizes the "mustical asceticism" of these works, although ultimately one wishes for greater involvement. I did enjoy the more highly colored Le fils des étoiles, Satie's first music for the stage, both for the more sensuous music and for de Leeuw's atmospheric playing, but only when isolated from the rest of the disc. I found it impossible to listen to all 70 minutes in one sitting. If you want to explore Satie's music beyond the Gymnopédies and the Gnossiennes then try the second of Pascal Rogé's recitals which, although it rarely overlaps the repertoire on this disc, is much more involving. The present disc, recorded with close but faithful sound, is for Satie enthusiasts only.

Turok's Choice Issue 75, February 1997

Reinbert de Leeuw plays a bevy of Satie's pseudo-Gothic pieces with deadpan evenness, cruelly taking the composer at face value when a touch of nuance might have saved the day (454 048-2).

Comments from discussion group:

I'm listening for the first time to Reinbert de Leeuw's Philips recording of Satie's piano music. I have played all of these pieces and I know how hard it is to sustain these SLOW tempos. For the most part, I think that he has succeeded.

I heard several versions of the music of Erik Satie. The very best version is that is played by Reinbert de Leeuw from Holland. It would be great if his interpretations would be known world-wide. In january 1997 he will be performing in the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam. It would be worth visiting the concert! Peter - Amsterdam

A few years ago Reinbert de Leeuw recorded four LP's with the music of Erik Satie. Later three of them appeared on CD's. The way of recording were not very good, so Reinbert de Leeuw decided to make new digital recordings. The first new CD contains the Gnossiennes, the Ogives, the Petite ouverture a danser, the Sarabandes and the Gymnopiedes. The second CD contains Quatres Preludes, the Sonneries de la Rose-Croix, the Premiere pensee Rose-Croix, the Prelude de la porte heroique du ciel, the Priere, Le fils des etoiles and the Danses gothiques. The only part that is not yet recorded are the Pieces froides. The Premiere pensee Rose-Croix and Le fils des etoiles were not recorded by Reinbert de Leeuw before. I understood there will also come a third CD. I can strongly recommand these versions of the music of Erik Satie. I think that the way Reinbert de Leeuw plays the music it is almost the perfect way to create silence by playing music. In january and february Reinbert de Leeuw will be playing in Holland in Amsterdam and Zoetermeer. Greetings - Peter (Amsterdam, Holland)

No doubt, if you intend listening to the earlier "mystical" works (1886-1897) Reinbert de Leeuw's recordings (Philips Classics Records) in the midth 1970's are superior. Ciccolini's interpretations sounds, compared to de Leeuw, as a joke.

Regarding Sonatine bureaucratique. It is performed by a number of pianists. I recommend Pascal Rogé. Reinbert de Leeuw has made a stunning performance in the film Satie & Suzanne, but is not yet available on any album.
NF

I occasionally like the De Leeuw - especially his treatment of the Gothic pieces and the Sarabandes.
-DP