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This first installment of the “Stravinsky: Complete Piano Works” series dives into the captivating world of Igor Stravinsky's early compositions. Following his groundbreaking “Trois Mouvements de Petrouchka”, this album offers a glimpse into the composer's formative years, featuring his early piano works, including the romantic Sonata in F-sharp Minor, the intricate Etudes, as well as other small pieces. The Petrouchka transcription, dedicated to Arthur Rubinstein, is a veritable warhorse in today’s piano repertoire. It is important, however, to remember that this outwardly virtuoso work it is essentially a story about puppets (Petrouchka, Ballerina and the Moore), and as such it paints a vivid picture of the carnival atmosphere at the Russian Shrovetide Fair, the romance, and the tragic destiny of Petrouchka himself. As for the other early piano works, we encounter Stravinsky in his exploratory phase, still forging his distinct identity as a composer. His musical language transforms before our eyes (and ears) from the overtly romantic, emotionally charged F-sharp Minor Sonata to the Etudes harmonized in a late-romantic style, requiring careful coordination of the hands in various polyrhythms, utmost precision for a variety of leaps, as well as a wide range of articulation and touch.