'Matthews’s Piano Sonata, played by Andrew Ball, involves not so much the lush sonorities that take his orchestral writing close to neo-impressionist Denisov as a Baroque feel, plus the Prokofiev-like percussive baldness of his scudding String Trio and a jazz-tinged coda'
The Times Higher Education Supplement (Roderic Dunnett), 11 October 1988
'… a compact and assured work whose point is helped by the strength of its progressive musical logic. This progression is matched in the succession and combination of varied keyboard textures, particularly in the expansive fantasia manner of its calmly lyrical slow movement'
The Independent (David Wright), 24 February 1990
'Pounding rhythms at the opening give way to melody; the slow section is lyrical and exploits a transparent three-voiced piano texture; a brief and jazzy scherzo evaporates into a reworking of the opening material. The fast music has an exuberance all too rare in contemporary music …'
Music and Musicians (David Bray), May 1990
'… an unflagging energy and inventiveness'
Gramophone (Arnold Whittall), March 1995
The Times Higher Education Supplement (Roderic Dunnett), 11 October 1988
'… a compact and assured work whose point is helped by the strength of its progressive musical logic. This progression is matched in the succession and combination of varied keyboard textures, particularly in the expansive fantasia manner of its calmly lyrical slow movement'
The Independent (David Wright), 24 February 1990
'Pounding rhythms at the opening give way to melody; the slow section is lyrical and exploits a transparent three-voiced piano texture; a brief and jazzy scherzo evaporates into a reworking of the opening material. The fast music has an exuberance all too rare in contemporary music …'
Music and Musicians (David Bray), May 1990
'… an unflagging energy and inventiveness'
Gramophone (Arnold Whittall), March 1995