Idil Biret (piano)


“Igor Stravinsky’s Three Movements from Pétrouchka is a musically challenging and unusually difficult score which has to intimidate any pianist in his right mind. Every few years the stereo LP era has engendered a performance of this blockbuster, each deficient in some important aspect… Thanks to Idil Biret, all of these recordings are obsolete. I cannot do enough justice to her command of the music and its technical hurdles, nor to the effect of hearing Stravinsky’s arrangement played with such comprehensive mastery…This performance is not only the highlight of the disc; it is one of the landmarks of recorded music and belongs on anyone’s list of Great Recordings.” FANFARE MAGAZINE – USA 1977

“Gaspard de la nuit, one of the great landmarks of early 20th Century music, is wonderfully revealed in Idil Biret’s visionary performance…The Pétrouchka scenes are the high-water mark of pianism in Stravinsky’s work, and they are brilliantly played here in a performance that rivals the drama and color of the orchestra original.” STEREO REVIEW – USA 1977