Stravinsky: Serenade in A for piano

"Stravinsky regarded the piano as primarily a percussion instrument; even when spinning an elegantly sustained neo-classical melody his piano textures are crisp and dry. I am sure Martin Jones knows this - his many recordings demonstrate a pianist of remarkable sensitivity to a wide range of styles - and has scrupulously tried to project a genuinely Stravinskian sound. Indeed this is shown by his care over those early works where Stravinsky hardly sounds like Stravinsky at all: the amply Tchaikovskian manner of the F sharp minor Sonata and the Skriabinesque shot colours of the four études are both admirably conveyed." Michael Oliver, Classic CD

"While the surface flows with neo-classical calm, undercurrents tug at Stravinsky's Sonata of 1924. One record of Peter Hill's performance is to hear these tensions so subtly explored. "Hill is professor of music at Sheffield University and his propensity for tonalshading and rhythmic precision have won particular acclaim in his Messiaen recordings. His Stravinsky is no less persuasive, whether in the dry clarity of Les Cinq Doigts; the quiet wit movements from Petrushka." - Yovkshire Post (Leads) Wednesday October 4, 2000

"...in terms of archival importance, [Stravinsky's] discography, especially the Columbia recordings now reissued on Sony Classical, is the greatest landmark in the history of recorded music from the classical tradition." The New York Times, June 1999