BBC Music Magazine (UK)

What? No Gymnopedies or Gnossiennes? Entitled Satie Surprises,

Christina Bjørkøe's new album of the composer's piano works provocatively, and commendably, eschews his best-known pieces. Rather, this is an elegant forage among the less-frequented areas of Satie's output to form one of the more thoughtful commemorations of the centenary of his death in 1925. Bjørkøe takes selections from works such as Six pieces dela periode or Avant-dernieres pensees, generally scattering individual movements across the programme.
The first few pieces in the collection reflect different facets of this most idiosyncratic of composers. After opening amiably with the Petite ouverture a danser, the brief Facheux exemple from Musiques intimes et secretes is fragmented and elliptical. The ensuing Effronterie, from the Six pieces dela periode, finds Satie in unusually expansive, almost gushing mode, while the three Airsa faire fuir from Pieces froides are closest to the beguilingly elusive world of the Gnossiennes.
Bjørkøe is adroit at capturing the spirit of each piece, whether the child-like intimacy of Son binocle, the dreamy, occasionally unsettled beauty of the third Nocturne or the emotional detachment of Froide songerie. With such attractive playing, it is frustrating that the documentation on the album is inadequate for a collection exploring largely unfamiliar pieces. Titles of the individual Airs afaire fuir are omitted, for instance, while a newcomer inspired to play the three Preludes would never find them without knowing they are from Le ji "lsdesetoiles”. A missed opportunity. Christopher Dingle, August Issue***