Admirers of Satie will not need a recommendation from me to seek out this well-filled and attractively played issue of his orchestral music, some of which is in the form of transcriptions. Equally, those who regard his humour as childish and his musical ability as unfofmed will pass quickly over this review and search for more substantial material. The fact of the matter is that if you think some of this writing clumsy and jejune, a work such as Parade (pistol shots, sirens and all) is merely going to give more hostages to your opinion, but if the composer interests and charms you—as he did Constant Lambert in his perceptive book Music ho! (London: 1934)—it is those very qualities that upset the opposite camp that will attract your approval. If this reviewer must declare his own position, it is that much of the music—though emphatically not all—seems to him like simple doodling and of minor interest only. Take that, or indeed leave it, according to your taste. The New London Orchestra under Ronald Corp could be a bit more uninhibited, I feel, in the many moments of humour but, again arguably there is an essential buttoned-up, rolledumbrella quality to Satie too, and so here, once more, an aesthetic judgement depends on your initial stand.
Suffice it to say that many will find this record indispensable, and Corp's orchestration of the second Gymnopedie is worthy to stand alongside Debussy's of the other two: these intensely nostalgic pieces are unique in language, which is more than one can say for many more pretentious ones by other composers. The recording is faithful but (probably rightly) in no way spectacular. The useful booklet note by Simon Wright captures the spirit of the period.'