As just mentioned, the first disc consists of solo piano works, both the very familiar and some comparative rarities, programmed for maximum contrast and variety. The second disc contains duets for piano with, respectively, another pianist, cabaret singer (the wonderful Juliette), tenor, violin, and trumpet (La Statue retrouvée). Once again the programing allows for maximum variety, even in these often very brief pieces. As with the first disc, specific piano works (those for four hands in this case: Three Pieces in the Form of a Pear, La Belle Excentrique, and Cinéma) frame the other selections, creating a program rich in variety, ideal for continuous listening.

The fact that Satie's music, with its wacky titles and lack of pretension, often isn't "serious" doesn't mean that it shouldn't be taken seriously. As a composer his range may be limited, but he's not lacking in content, and most Satie recitals either collect all the most popular stuff, monotony be damned, or take a "library" approach and simply play everything in chronological or some other sequence that pays scant attention to why one piece should follow another, musically speaking. In assembling this program based entirely on musical values, thanks to Tharaud and his colleagues, Satie's stature as a unique musical voice emerges all the more impressively. Magnificently engineered, with an extensive booklet that's a model of its kind, there is simply no better or more entertaining way to get to know him.

--David Hurwitz, ClassicsToday.com

Note: Unlike the other works on this album, the performance of Erik Satie's "Le Piège de Méduse" (tracks 19 to 24) is on a prepared piano in which the strings have been altered to produce unusual tone colors and effects. In this piece, Satie's score specifies placing sheets of paper on the piano strings in order to imitate the "mechanical" sounds of a monkey puppet character in the play.