This entertaining and attractive anthology gets better and better as it proceeds. John McCabe has the full measure of Satie's understated melancholy and cool, lyrical nostalgia. The program ranges from neglected early works like the simple, almost Chopinesque Valse-ballet, Satie's first published piano piece dating from 1885, to the quietly nostalgic elegy of the Reverie du pauvre and thoughtfully ambivalent Deux Reveries nocturne. The hauntingly simple Je te veux and the two sets of pieces, Le Piège de Mèduse and Le fils des étoiles, are particularily memorable, while the Cinq Grimaces end the recital with quirky good humor. The intellegent planning of this 62-minute recital and the penetrating response of the pianism places this CD among the finest Satie collections, and the recording, though not vividly present, is natural within a highly suitable ambiance.

Gramophone March 94, Ivan March:
<Reviews the Saga>

…Hardly less stimulating and perceptive is John McCabe's Satie collection, including many rarities, notably the early (1885) Valse-ballet.
This is not quite characteristic - indeed it sounds a bit like Chopin - while the other Valse (Je te veux), written two decades later, is very Satie-esque and hautingly memorable. so too, are the five vignettes titled Le Piège de Mèduse (originally written as a miniature ballet) and the more ambitious suite o fincidental music for Le fils des étoiles. There are a number of more familiar favorites here too, including two Gnossiennes, the piquant Pièces froides, a pair of Nocturnes and much else besides, with a characteristic mood of grotesquerie for the closing Cinq Grimaces. This is one of the most stimulating Satie collections I have come across for some time, and the 1980 sound is very good. ADD.

I am still waiting for someone to at least print the texts, though, even if one is going to take Satie seriously about not reading them along with the music--to which they add a new dimension.

Fanfare Nov/Dec 94, John W. Lambert:
<reviews Emergo>

English pianist and composer John McCabe's CD may be one of more immediate immediate interest than Kaspersen's. <comparative review with older collection from the Danish pianist.> His approach seems a shade more leisurely although this is as much a matter of energy as tempos - there's nothing wrong with that, per se. He offers two additional, less well-known Gnossiennes (although a 6th Gnossienne exists, and there's plenty of room for it…) McCabe's major work (only because of its overall length) is the number Sports et Divertissements, which he plays less charmingly (and much more deliberately) than Masselos, to cite but one established master. The 6 Piéces come from a total of twenty-three titles (which include the additional Gnossienne mentioned above) that were edited by Robert Caby ...

McCabe's Sonatine bureaucratique is among his most notable achievements, with Vieux séquins et vieilles cuirasses running neck and neck. In both cases, he proves that he can be a master of the small form.

McCabe handles <the Gymnopédies> somewhat briskly; those who have moved by them on previous occasions may find his interpretations somewhat straightforward.

Kaspersen plays the Véritables Préludes flasques (pour un chien) as if they are important scores; McCabe tosses them off…

Thanks to McCabe's excursions into the Satie backwaters and his generously filled disc, his is probably the better choice here, but the verdict is not clear-cut. Those who love this distinctive music may well require both releases. And despite its brevity, Kaspersen sounds so much better: Emergo seems to have muddied the bass and put a sheen on the top.

The McCabe issue seems similar to what the catalog indicates is an ADD release on the Saga label; if you have that, you may not need this version, although it is said to be DDD… On hearing it, I'm not convinced that the new one <Emergo> is all digitial.