# D. Scarlatti-550



## EnescuCvartet (Dec 16, 2016)

If you're anything like me, you have your favorite sonatas by D. Scarlatti, but you haven't listened to all 550, or 555. There isn't enough time, and there are too many other composers. 

I initially had an idea to have a Talk Classical joint effort to listen to all of the Domenico Scarlatti sonatas. It could work something like this: 

This thread, or one like it but more official would ask for interested T.C. members to agree to take a certain number of the sonatas and listen to them over an agreed upon time. For instance, if we had 30 people able and willing to participate, we could divide the 550 equally by 30, roughly 18 per person. I think we'd use the 'K' designations. Someone would be assigned K1-K18, and the next person K19-K36, and so on.

We'd agree upon a time limit to explore our assigned works, say a month. Then we'd share our results, perhaps our three favorites from our batch, and perhaps also something about why we liked them - in order to give a context for what we look for in a Scarlatti sonata, or in any music we enjoy.

That could be the end of it, or we could go on to a second round where we take the 3x30 works and allot another few weeks, either re-divying them out, or just everyone listening to the same bunch and maybe voting on favorites, until we get down to a more manageable number, a reasonable amount to recommend to anyone, maybe all gems by this time, though I know that is a subjective term. 

The object wouldn't be to find the best Scarlatti sonata. Just to discover a member of them that could otherwise have been overlooked.

I say I "initially" had this idea because after sleeping on it, it didn't sound too practical. The logistics would be a mess. We'd be more likely to get less than 10 enthusiastic participants listening to 55 works a piece. Also, I don't have time to run something like this. Not only do I work full-time, but I also go to school nights, among other things including my musical endeavors. So someone else would have to take up the hosting. I think what is more likely to occur is that this thread gets 4 or 5 replies. If, however, among those 4 or 5 replies I get some good recommendations for Scarlatti sonatas I haven't heard, I will be satisfied.

So... as you can perhaps tell by now, if you're still with me, I took the long way around just asking you what are some of your favorite Scarlatti sonatas? I have found the slower works to be the most surprising and interesting. The K 208 sounds like it could have been written by a romantic era composer.


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## WhateverDude (Jun 21, 2019)

I enjoy them sometimes on a guitar or lute.... Not on a harpsichord and never on a piano


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## Rogerx (Apr 27, 2018)

Only on the piano and all 550 :angel:


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## 6Strings (Feb 16, 2021)

I enjoy them on the guitar and piano. This one looks especially nasty for a guitarist! (I might have to give it a try!)


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## EnescuCvartet (Dec 16, 2016)

Rogerx said:


> Only on the piano and all 550 :angel:


Some more than others?


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