Satie: Parade / Trois Gymnopedies / Orchestral Works)

"Early 20th-century French eccentric Erik Satie's piano pieces are ubiquitous, as are Debussy's orchestrations of two of his famously lyrical "Gymnopèdies." This album includes the Debussy arrangements, along with the third "Gymnopèdie" orchestrated by Roland-Manuel. But what makes this collection so enterprising is that it features Satie's hugely influential score to the Cocteau/Picasso/Massin ballet "Parade," along with the pop-inflected score to the Dadaist ballet "Relâche" and the dance piece "Mercure." The music is beguiling and bumptious by turns, its simplicity disguising revolutionary qualities. The Nancy orchestra plays this sad circus music as to the manner born, and the sound and presentation are solid. Another Naxos winner"
(Gramophone Editor's Choice)