Schoenberg/Berg/Webern: Piano Music

2010

“When interviewed by Gramophone back in September 1989, Peter Hill said he felt he had things to say about the Schoenberg piano works which had not been said on record. Here is the complete vindication of that statement. These are scrupulously prepared performances, with all the polyphonic strands clarified and all the myriad articulation marks respected. In order to accommodate that detail and let it speak musically, Hill takes tempos on the relaxed side of Schoenberg's frequently rather manic metronome indications. The first two of the Op 11 pieces gain a gravity that might have surprised the composer, and the fourth piece of Op 23 loses some of the suggested schwungvoll character.
Yet there's no lack of brilliance and velocity in such pieces as the Gigue from Op 25, and time and again Hill's thoughtfulness and search for expressiveness and beauty of sound justify his spacious approach.
Hill probes with equal subtlety, sympathy and high intelligence in the Webern Variations, while in the Berg Sonata, Hill's unforced lyricism, inwardness and flexibility of phrasing are again immensely appealing. Apart from its amazing value for money, Naxos's first-rate recording quality, Peter Hill's own lucid booklet- essay, and what sounds like an ideally regulated instrument, all contribute to the outstanding success of this issue.”