# Erik Satie and the The Camerata Contemporary Chamber Group recordings



## Whistler Fred (Feb 6, 2014)

Hi everyone. I'm Whistler Fred, a new kid on the Talk Classical block.

I have, on LP and cassette, three recordings of the music of Erik Satie as arranged and performed by the The Camerata Contemporary Chamber Group. They are probably, to a large extent, a relic of the psychedelic 60's, with the use of synthesizers, jocular spoken introductions and a performance of Parade that interposes chanting monks, strip tease music, the voices of Hitler and Roosevelt, and an exploding atom bomb on the score. It's more than a bit over the top, even for an old ex-hippy like me.

But one of the recordings, called The Velvet Gentlemen, does a good job of presenting effective chamber arrangements of many of Satie's most engaging tunes. It also uses synthesizers, but does a much better job of blending it with the rest of the instruments. I still find it enjoyable and wish that London/Decca (or whoever owns the rights to the recordings) would re-master and release this recording on CD.

Is anyone else here familiar with these recordings and what do you think of them?


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## Manxfeeder (Oct 19, 2010)

I have the LPs also. They were an interesting reinterpretation. They were very popular with the old Erik Satie newsgroup. I'm surprised they haven't been reissued also.


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## PetrB (Feb 28, 2012)

I am familiar with the ones you mentioned, including _The Velvet Gentleman_, and found them more than wanting and way less than anything I would call interesting, then and now. I suppose that is because before those came out, I already owned:

the Aldo Ciccolini recordings of the solo piano music, acquired one by one as they were released (and had played through as much of the piano music as I could lay hands on via purchase or the library)

the 'complete' orchestral works (Abravanel, Utah Symphony)

and a great recorded performance of Socrate (if memory serves, on Oiseaux Lyre).

P.s. B.T.W. Ex or not, _Old Hippie_ is redundant


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## Whistler Fred (Feb 6, 2014)

PetrB said:


> I am familiar with the ones you mentioned, including _The Velvet Gentleman_, and found them more than wanting and way less than anything I would call interesting, then and now. I suppose that is because before those came out, I already owned:
> 
> the Aldo Ciccolini recordings of the solo piano music, acquired one by one as they were released (and had played through as much of the piano music as I could lay hands on via purchase or the library)
> 
> ...




I have the recordings you've mentioned here, plus collections by Jean-Yves Thibaudet and Cristina Ariagno and selections by William Masselos, Alexandre Tharaud and Reinbert de Leeuw. I'm a bit of a music pack rat when it comes to liking different interpretations!

"The Velvet Gentleman" was my introduction to Satie's engaging music, so perhaps I'm a bit nostalgic about it. But I still enjoy the recording, while agreeing that the piano originals are better.


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## Guest (Feb 6, 2014)

I forget which album was which, but I had the one with Trois Gymnopedies - or rather my brother did. It was my first introduction to Satie too. I found both in mp3 conversions on 't internet.

http://blog.wfmu.org/freeform/2007/05/the_electronic_.html#more


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## PetrB (Feb 28, 2012)

Whistler Fred said:


> I have the recordings you've mentioned here, plus collections by Jean-Yves Thibaudet and Cristina Ariagno and selections by William Masselos, Alexandre Tharaud and Reinbert de Leeuw. I'm a bit of a music pack rat when it comes to liking different interpretations!
> 
> "The Velvet Gentleman" was my introduction to Satie's engaging music, so perhaps I'm a bit nostalgic about it. But I still enjoy the recording, while agreeing that the piano originals are better.


I like de Leeuw's Satie, but must say this is a sort of extra-slow approach to the tempi -- still with a forward momentum and connectivity -- that is more often what musicians might play for other musicians. They are a nice 'second take' from the Ciccolini. I find the Tharaud "too pretty," i.e. something precious about them I think not at all 'a part of Satie.'


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## Whistler Fred (Feb 6, 2014)

I like de Leeuw best in the Sarabandes and some of the more "mystical" pieces. His Gymnopédies and Gnossiennes are too slow for my tastes. I'm still undecided on the Tharaud, but I do think he may fuss with the music a bit too much. Satie's quirky humor doesn't really need underscoring and Tharaud does that a lot. I found Masselos to be surprisingly good, as I associate him more with the thornier side of 20th Century music (Ives, the Copland of the Piano Variations and Fantasy, etc). He only recorded the Sports Et Divertissements and a handful of his shorter work on a disk that also includes his awesome Ives First Piano Sonata, but I suspect the recording would now be hard to find. There are several good moments, mostly in the lesser known works, for both the Thibaudet and Ariagno sets, but Ciccolini is still at the top of my list of favorites.


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## Trinacria (Oct 3, 2015)

I get that I'm jumping in a year late, but just wanted to say I have an old cassette tape created from an LP back in the 80's that I think I've listened to so much that It's probably much different sounding than the actual recording. It really takes me back to a time I never lived in; both the late 19th century and the early 1970's. If anyone ever hears of it coming out on digital (and yeah...I've looked. Amazon only has LPs of it) please let me know.


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## Guest (Oct 3, 2015)

Trinacria said:


> I get that I'm jumping in a year late, but just wanted to say I have an old cassette tape created from an LP back in the 80's that I think I've listened to so much that It's probably much different sounding than the actual recording. It really takes me back to a time I never lived in; both the late 19th century and the early 1970's. If anyone ever hears of it coming out on digital (and yeah...I've looked. Amazon only has LPs of it) please let me know.


It's not out on digital yet, but there was a set of mp3 files doing the rounds...I've got them. You can get a set of the 2nd (or possibly a third) from here...

http://blog.wfmu.org/freeform/2007/05/the_electronic_.html

Some have been put on Youtube too


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## k1dv00 (Jul 9, 2017)

The Velvet Gentleman was in regular rotation at the store where I worked in the early 70's, in suburban Philadelphia, PA. I just looked for it on Spotify but it's not there.


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## Pugg (Aug 8, 2014)

k1dv00 said:


> The Velvet Gentleman was in regular rotation at the store where I worked in the early 70's, in suburban Philadelphia, PA. I just looked for it on Spotify but it's not there.


Good to see a new member digging in, welcome to Talk Classical.


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