SKETCHES OF SATIE (WITH JOHN HACKETT)

As a person who also loves classical music it is close to obligatory that I at least try and listen into any remakes of classical stuff by prog or other rock artists. Some are close to horrible, even making the composers turn in their graves, others can easily compete with recordings by the most famous classical performers in quality.

Sketches Of Satie by the Hackett brothers is a prime example of the second category. While it is one of the few works where I don't have any other recordings, I wouldn't hesitate to put this CD on when I have guests who only like classical music. The pieces themselves are rather easy to listen to, while both Steve Hackett on the guitar and John on the flute show the proper skill with their instruments. One could criticize that the arrangement is close to the way Erik Satie suggested, making it not very original compared to albums like Pictures At An Exhibition by Emerson, Lake & Palmer, but I don't think that this is too important with classical music. Hey, if you listen to "normal" classical recordings or concerts, you will find the odd accent different between two conductors, but everything else is close to identical.

The reason why I don't award Sketches Of Satie 5 stars is that it is not the best classical album by Steve Hackett. This honour falls to A Midsummer Night's Dream, but Sketches Of Satie is still worth strong 4 stars.