Hill places the new work within an exceptionally well-crafted recital in which Messiaen's music is a recurrent thread in a span of resonances, influences and affinities...Whether in Dutilleux or Peter Sculthorpe, Murail or Takemitsu, Hill's provides a masterclass in capturing a composer's idiom with warmth and humanity.

he knows how to make a sound like bronze, like those pianists from before the first world war. There it is: you’re hooked … the depth of his sound, the kaleidoscope of attacks, the intelligence of the pedalling are unfailing.

Hill's realisation forms a rewarding substantial centrepiece to this outstanding recital disc. The whole point is to put Messiaen himself in a stimulating context...The appeal of the disc is greatly enhanced by the exceptional quality of the recording, with every facet of Hill's uncompromisingly extensive expressive range vividly captured.

this generously filled disc [is] a serious study for both concentrated and extended reading.

With a beautiful recorded balance equally capturing the subtle colours and drama of both the music and Peter Hill’s performances, this is both a piano recording of demonstration quality and a musical experience to treasure.

Hill has devised a fascinating sequence to contextualise this first recording of an 11-minute virtuoso piece he discovered in Messiaen’s posthumous papers...as performed here, [it] is bitingly fresh and chattery, plausibly ornithological.

La Fauvette Passerinette represents a path Messiaen never followed further...As Hill’s performance shows, however, it’s an utterly convincing and thrilling piece of piano writing – a fierce, sustained 11-minute study as rigorous as Messiaen’s piano works of the late 1940s...Altogether, it is a hugely rewarding and important disc.

What a discovery! La Fauvette Passerinette is a stunning 11-minute piano solo — joyous, syncopated and virtuosic...It was rediscovered recently by Peter Hill, who sends its birdsong-based fantasies soaring fabulously on a fascinating disc that puts the French maître in the context of contemporaries...and pupils.