Imagining how Scarlatti’s sonatas sound on other instruments, beyond the harpsichord or other keyboards, can be a temptation difficult to overcome. It was difficult for...

Imagining how Scarlatti’s sonatas sound on other instruments, beyond the harpsichord or other keyboards, can be a temptation difficult to overcome. It was difficult for us and it must have been, too, for those who had in their hands some of the hot manuscripts, fresh out of the oven, in the eighteenth century. Because, in this point, a new mystery emerges: what happened to all those acquaintances that Scarlatti had the opportunity to find in Rome or Venice? Did he keep in contact with other European composers, such as Thomas Roseingrave, once at the service of the court in Madrid? What happened to the bridges built with London? How is it possible that some of the sonatas that today are only preserved in the manuscript of Venice were known in England as early as 1744? On this release, La Tempestad attempts to answer some of those questions. Led by Silvia Marquez, La Tempestad, founded in 2000, has become a force to reckon with in the Spanish early music world. “The precision, finesse, and insight of its musicians catch the listener from the first note.”