Peter Donohoe presents dynamically muscular yet thoughtful and affectionate readings of the first three of Tippett's four piano sonatas, in first-rate recorded sound…

It's a pity that, at 35 minutes-plus, Tippett's Fourth and last piano sonata is too long to join the others on a single CD. Be that as it may, it's good Naxos is opening up this repertoire, and Peter Donohoe is recorded with pleasing immediacy.
The First Sonata is especially successful – imaginatively characterised, the music's tendency to sprawl in the outer movements kept firmly in check. Despite the derivative aspects of its style, the piece has many distinctive qualities and – at least in Donohoe's performance – it stands up rather better than its successors.
No 2, a single-movement mosaic closely linked to King Priam and the Concerto for Orchestra, is in most respects the absolute antithesis of No 1, and the sheer number of repetitions of small thematic units creates a degree of stasis at odds with the free-flowing aspirations of the overall design.
Donohoe is acutely responsive to the broad contrasts and insistent rhythmic patterns of the Third Sonata but his tempo for the first movement is distinctly slower than Paul Crossley's (the Third Sonata's commissioner and first performer).

Crossley (the Third Sonata's commissioner and first performer) remains the safest recommendation for all four of Tippett's sonatas, with Donohoe a strong rival in No 1.