The eccentricities of tempo and quirky interpretive concepts typifying previous releases in Steffen Schleiermacher’s Satie cycle for MDG are nowhere to be found in Volume 5. For the most part, the pianist plays the pieces listed in the heading simply and directly. His sober, nearly deadpan touch in slower pieces such as the Nocturnes and Chorales contrast to the drier elegance pianists like Thibaudet and Ciccolini bring to this music. Yes, there is more lightness and humor to the Préludes flasques and the Menuet than Schleiermacher lets on, but has this extremely focused pianist ever been a charmer? At least his annotations are colorful and entertaining and thankfully devoid of the intellectual claptrap he’s served up in the past. MDG’s roomy engineering boasts greater presence than usual.
