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Satie, Poulenc: Le Comble de la Distinction

Poulenc / Jalbert,David Release Date: 10/09/2015
Label: Atma Classique Catalog #: 2683 Spars Code: n/a
Composer:  Francis Poulenc ,  Erik Satie Performer:  David Jalbert Number of Discs: 1
Recorded in: Stereo Length: 1 Hours 7 Mins.

Ottawa-based pianist David Jalbert puts on an impressive magic show in his latest solo album, which interweaves pieces by French composers Erik Satie and Francis Poulenc.

This is music that needs a light touch coupled with an all-in, nothing-held-back attitude. It also needs assured technique and a very clear sense of phrasing. Jalbert accomplishes all this, and more.

The title of the album, which translates as “the epitome of distinction” comes from Poulenc’s Les soirées de Nazelles, a suite of 12 pieces that grew out of improvising at the piano at a friend’s country retreat in central France in the 1930s. Poulenc enjoyed creating musical sketches of his friends. The characters are long gone, but Read more Poulenc’s music brings alive a world perched in transition between the Belle Époque and the Machine Age, between Impressionism and something much more abstract.

The pianist has tossed in a few pieces by Erik Satie (1866-1925), including the familiar three Gymnopédies, a set of three character pieces, Les trois valses distinguées du précieux dégouté (The Three Waltzes of the Precious Dandy), and Poulenc’s straightforward transcription of Satie’s most famous song, Je te veux (I Want You). There is much to love and admire here.

- Musical Toronto

Recently named by the CBC as one of the 15 best Canadian pianists of all time, David Jalbert is featured in Le comble de la distinction, a recording devoted to the music of Francis Poulenc and Erik Satie, and his fourth solo album on ATMA Classique.

The piano music of Poulenc is eclectic, often tongue-in-cheek, witty, even flippant, and unapologetically sentimental. David Jalbert’s selections for this new recording include Les Soirées de Nazelles, les Nocturnes, Mouvements perpétuels and the Improvisations cycle that pays homage to Édith Piaf and Franz Schubert.

During the 1960s, Satie rose to prominence as a non-conformist—a warrior for musical freedoms and a champion for the abolition of established values. David Jalbert’s selections perfectly reflect Satie’s spirit: Les trois valses distinguées du précieux dégoûté and the famous Gymnopédies. Read less