Although Mignone wrote a large number of pieces for piano solo, his preference had always been for the orchestra, and for solo song. In his works for piano the search for orchestral colour and texture is clearly evident in his use of ornamentation, spaced chords and explorations at the extreme ends of the keyboard. His focus on piano composition tended to be sporadic, producing many pieces in the 1940s, almost nothing in the 50s and early 60s, and eventually a return to larger forms, in particular the second, third and fourth sonatas. His works for piano solo fall into some natural groupings, the four sonatinas and four sonatas, more than thirty waltzes, and the the nine Lendas sertanejas. Of the remaining pieces two-thirds are written in a predominantly 19th-century European language, and the remainder reflect the influence of Brazilian folklore, in rhythm and form.

Martin Jones has been one of Britain’s most highly regarded solo pianists since first coming to international attention in 1968 when he received the Dame Myra Hess Award. He has made over 90 recordings with Nimbus Records exploring music that is not often played including the complete works of 18 composers. This year will see the release of four discs of newly discovered manuscripts of Daniel Jones. Also, together with Adrian Farmer, three discs of French music for four hands. During next year ,as well as giving concerts, he will complete three discs of the first recordings of all the piano works of Elizabeth Lutyens for Resonus Records, and continue his American Piano Series with Volumes 6 & 7 for Prova Recordings which will include several new works especially written for him, and, for Nimbus a collection of Brazilian music by Mignone, Gnatalli and Lorenzo-Fernandez.