The Anne Queffélec recordings collected on Virgin Classics' Satie: 3 Gymnopédies -- 6 Gnossiennes represent a reshuffling of material taken from albums made in 1988 and 1990. Along with the ubiquitous title works, Satie's Embryons desséchés and Descriptions automatiques are also included, in addition to the four-hand La belle excentrique and Trios Morceaux en forme de poire. Inexplicably, the song Je te veux and piano piece Poudre d'or are included under the rubric "Deux valses," a designation that appears to have no correspondence with Satie's established worklist.
When these discs were first released reviews were enthusiastic across the board and these were among the first digital recordings of Satie's music. Queffélec's interpretations are not excessively virtuosic, are carefully paced, controlled, and very French. At times, certain slow pieces are played a little coldly, although this respects Satie's intentions in some ways and is not in itself too distracting. By comparison, in Satie's sprightly, cabaret-inspired material such as La belle excentrique, Queffélec is lively and buoyant. One of the most enjoyable items in this collection is the four-hand Trois Morceaux en forme de poire, in which Queffélec is joined by Catherine Collard in what is one of the best recorded performances this little suite has ever had.
The original, full-price Virgin Classics issues of the Queffélec Satie CDs bore striking and clever front cover paintings combining Satie's portrait with elements drawn from the visual art of Belgian painter René Magritte -- an appropriate counterpoint to the music inside. With this release, Virgin apparently sent a photographer down to the beach and obtained this front cover image of -- feet. Yes, feet. Apparently the brainstorm that led to this image concept was the word "pédie" (i.e. "feet") in the Satiëan title Gymnopédies. Despite the pun, this is not a very attractive front cover. No one can be blamed for not wanting to add such a fetishistic visual to their music library; however, rest assured that what's inside the disc is perfectly fine.