No one redefined the limits of contemporary keyboard writing in the 18th century more radically than Domenico Scarlatti, whose formal innovation, harmonic daring and virtuosic brilliance set him apart from his contemporaries. In this selection of sonatas Martin Cousin presents a multifaceted portrait of Scarlatti's full creative range. Along with scalic runs, extended trills, dramatic dynamics and playful syncopations, we also meet the impish, quasi-improvisational and introspective composer capable of great nobility and lyrical beauty, one who bridged Baroque traditions with the new Classical style.

As the composer of over 500 revolutionary keyboard sonatas, Domenico Scarlatti is rightfully regarded as a towering figure in 18th-century Spanish music. His close ties to the Spanish Court granted him a wide network of influence among contemporary composers, while his innovative integration of Spanish folk elements played a crucial role in shaping the distinctive keyboard style of the era. However, the prominence of Scarlatti has unfortunately overshadowed the remarkable work of his contemporaries and immediate successors, whose compositions blend Italian, French, and Spanish traditions in unique ways. From Nebra's recently discovered Sinfonias to the enigmatic sonorities of Albero's Recercatas and the folkloric character of Maximo Lopez's Variations on the Spanish fandango, this project explores the rich diversity of 18th-century Spanish keyboard music and sheds light on an often-neglected chapter of the harpsichord repertoire.

For many decades, students of Domenico Scarlatti, including me, have been debating about the relationship between most of Scarlatti's Sonatas and Flamenco dance. Silvia Rambaldi and Andreina Di Girolamo deserve our praise for presenting a practical demonstration that moves beyond the boundary of words, uniting dance and harpsichord performance, by means of the collaboration of the dancer Rita Marchesini, who is an expert on both Baroque and Flamenco dance. And since very often within certain Sonatas there is an alternation between the Andalusian style and the Italian one, the dancer, with her performance, demonstrates that it is possible to "play" with both styles appropriately. (Emilia Fadini) This interesting production on the harpsichord sonatas "encrypted" by Domenico Scarlatti is accompanied by a DVD rom containing the video of the sonatas for two harpsichords filmed in the performance "La festa dorata dell'anima", in which Rita Marchesini (historical dance and flamenco) and Alberto Rodriguez (Andalusian guitarist) join the harpsichordists Andreina di Girolamo and Silvia Rambaldi in this "field demonstration" of the influence of Italian and Spanish dance on the works of the great composer. The comments in the interview with the late Emilia Fadini are not to be missed.

Domenico Scarlatti redefined the possibilities of keyboard music, blending the grandeur of the Baroque with the emerging vitality of the Classical era. He found his artistic sanctuary at the royal court of Portugal in the employ of Queen Maria Barbara, a pivotal role that generated a remarkable synthesis of Italian and Spanish musical traditions. The works included in this collection thoroughly explore the capabilities of both instrument and player, with thrilling inventiveness, dazzling virtuosity and beautiful lyricism, which encapsulate Scarlatti's legacy as a trailblazer in this genre.

As all volumes of the complete recording of Domenico Scarlatti's piano sonatas are released on CD, all the booklets also contain texts on the music. Thomas Seedorf has accompanied the series as musicologist from the beginning. In most cases, Christoph Ullrich contributes his own thoughts. Both very different. In each volume, both have a theme that is particularly appropriate to the sonatas collected. In this case, Thomas Seedorf focuses on the music-historical categorisation of Scarlatti, which is particularly interesting in comparison to his two colleagues born in the same year, Johann Sebastian Bach and George Frideric Handel. Christoph Ullrich devotes himself to the 'being a child' of artists in general, that of Domenico Scarlatti in particular and his own. Both texts are very enriching. Not much more needs to be said about the music. Anyone who has listened to one of the 13 volumes already released knows about the delightful standard of Christoph Ullrich's Scarlatti. Enjoy listening!

Domenico Scarlatti, one of the most fascinating composers of the Baroque era, was born in Naples on October 26, 1685 - the same year as J.S. Bach and G.F. Handel. He was the sixth of ten children of the famous opera composer Alessandro Scarlatti. Domenico, who showed exceptional talent at an early age, began his musical journey under the guidance of his father. He became one of the most influential composers and harpsichordists of his time. Canadian-born pianist Christyna Kaczynski-Kozel presents ten of Scarlatti's highly innovative, virtuoso and technically demanding sonatas on this album. Sometimes they are characterized by a lively and upbeat character, sometimes by a melancholy mood, sometimes they are profoundly introverted or they convey a serious lyricism and melody. Many sonatas also contain folkloristic elements such as castanets or drums, guitars and hunting horn scenes. The technical difficulties are considerable: rapid key changes, arpeggios, repeated notes, trills, plus large leaps spanning several octaves and hand-crossing.

Domenico Scarlatti's 555 keyboard sonatas were most probably written for his patron Princess Maria Barbara of Portugal. Her love of music leads us to assume that she was suitably appreciative of these extraordinary gifts from her teacher and friend. The earlier sonatas are rooted in the Italian style, with the Sonata in G major, K.103 notable for it's eyebrow-raising lurches between major and minor tonalities. The influence of Spanish flamenco guitar can be heard in exotic embellishments and spicy harmonies in sonatas such as K.137 and K.303. Scarlatti's astonishing originality can be found throughout this entire collection.

2018 release. For his third Erato album of harpsichord music, Jean Rondeau turns to Domenico Scarlatti and some 20 of the often-dazzling sonatas that the Neapolitan composer wrote during his years at the royal court in Madrid. Imbued with the spirit of the dance, they are works that Rondeau uses "to tell a story for the people who will listen to an album from beginning to end... An artist must consider how he tells his story, how he can stimulate the public's curiosity."

Having dedicated his first two albums for Arcana to Johann Sebastian Bach (Little Books, A480) and Georg Friedrich Handel (Winged Hands, A499), Francesco Corti turns to Domenico Scarlatti, the third great keyboardist of the 1685 generation. For this recording, he selected a group of sonatas copied in the years 1752 and 1753, strictly organised in pairs. Concentrating on works from the same period, it showcases the composer's extraordinary ability to stretch the boundaries of the sonata form and to extensively elaborate his thematic material. Instrumental virtuosity and an experimental approach to the harpsichord sound go hand in hand with an astonishing formal freedom, combined with a playful sense of structure and expectation. Corti has chosen to perform these sonatas on a Humeau harpsichord, a copy of Italian models (courtesy of Bertrand Cuiller), and record them at the Royaumont Abbey.

Accordionist Philippe Thuriot doesn't only play the repertoire that is specifically composed for his instrument. In the past, he has transposed the music of Francois Couperin and Johann Sebastian Bach for his instrument.�Scarlatti's Sonatas are�baroque gems, full of sparkling melodies and Spanish swing. Philippe Thuriot improvises these enchanting sonatas together and breathes new life into them with his accordion.

With his more than sixty prizewinning recordings, Michael Korstick has gained renown as one of Germany’s leading pianists. And now, with his new recording of sonatas by Domenico Scarlatti, he again sets accents and interpretive standards. The score texts, especially as far as ornamentation is concerned, often cannot be written out with precision or brought into systematic agreement in parallel passages. Much in these score texts creates the impression of a sketch and practically invites the player to make individual decisions.

An improvisational element is proper to all the pieces; no sonata follows a predictable course apart from the fact that they as a rule consist of two parts, each of which is repeated. There are many characteristics in Scarlatti’s music that immediately catch the ear’s attention: wit, generosity, keen understanding, irony, sensibility, and not least a healthy portion of the self-confidence forming a super-virtuoso’s sine qua non. The combination of the most sophisticated techniques, some of them acrobatic, with extremely catchy thematic material is characteristic of Scarlatti’s sonatas, but what never fails to astonish us is also his capacity for lyrical introspection in its most manifestations, from the greatest sorrow through the profoundest mourning to meditative absorption. Again, other pieces imitate the sounds of instruments so very different as flutes, oboes, trumpets, horns, guitars, mandolins, castanets, and drums.

This recording presents in full the thirty-two sonatas of the Auswahlband IV of the G. Henle Verlag as well as four of Scarlatti’s most beloved sonatas, which have been published separately by the G. Henle Verlag. The selection of pieces for Band IV has at its goal the presentation of what may be described as the essence or “The Best of” Scarlatti’s art of invention.

A luxury-grade vinyl transfer in a gatefold 2LP set for a beautifully engineered 2021 album of Scarlatti on the piano from a master German pianist.
On its CD release in 2022, this personal choice from Scarlatti’s 555 keyboard sonatas won an enthusiastic welcome from Gramophone. ‘Contrasts of mood together with unified relationships of tempo and key signature characterise one the most intelligently programmed and distinctively played Scarlatti collections to cross my reviewer’s desk in years.’

Hardly less than Bach, these sonatas have become for many pianists a proving ground for their own technique and imagination, rewarding an improvisatory response to their flamboyant effects. Schmitt-Leonardy also features several of Scarlatti’s most poetic and reflective sonatas such as the ‘Aria’ Kk 29 and the melancholy soliloquy of Kk 208.
The approach taken by Schmitt-Leonardy is always ‘pianistic’, in that he exploits the full tonal resources of a modern concert grand. Yet his phrasing is also sensitive to 18th-century style and to the kind of effects and articulation particular to the harpsichord for which Scarlatti was writing. ‘Kaleidoscopic nuances and dynamic gradations abound throughout the E major Kk135,’ continued the Gramophone reviewer Jed Distler, the Gramophone reviewer Jed Distler, ‘but not garishly so. Nor does the pianist’s curvaceous and tapered phrasing throughout the A major Kk322 lapse into mannerism or cliché.’
As with all Brilliant Classics and Piano Classics LPs, this set is issued on 180-gram, high-grade vinyl pressed at the Optimal factory in Hamburg. Its audiophile quality is worthy of performances which bear comparison with great Scarlatti performers of past and present from Horowitz to Pletnev. Inner-sleeve booklet notes by Peter Quantrill discuss each of the sonatas in turn.

Three legendary performances from the Stuttgart Ballet in the choreography of John Cranko: Onegin, Romeo and Juliet and The Taming of the Shrew. Including bonus conversations on each ballet and three documentaries on the Stuttgart Ballet and its outstanding dancers Marcia Haydée and Friedemann Vogel. The 3 documentaries are for the first time available on DVD and Blu-ray! (Unitel)

This 28th volume in the series features another selection of Scarlatti’s original, imaginative and colourful works. Pianist Sang Woo Kang is an active chamber musician, concerto soloist and recitalist whose Naxos album of Mozart’s fugues, rondos and fantasias received critical acclaim upon its release in December 2014 (8.573114).

REVIEW:

Vorobjova's very personal "cantabile" collection from the extensive Scarlatti virtuosic harpsichord repertoire.