# Domenico Scarlatti



## bdelykleon

Taken from the Guardian:








It's the music they didn't want you to hear - and it's only by good fortune that most of a magical 18th-century sound world was preserved at all. When Queen Maria Barbara of Spain prevailed on her Italian-born music master, Domenico Scarlatti, to supervise the copying of his 550 or so keyboard sonatas, there's no indication that she had publication in mind. As he advanced in years, she was probably more concerned that she would still be able to enjoy their exclusive use after his death. But at least she ensured that they were captured on paper, for otherwise the majority might well have disappeared into the Iberian air from which the mercurial improviser had first plucked them.

Although Maria Barbara and her husband Ferdinand VI surrounded themselves with great operatic, vocal and instrumental opulence, it was not to last for long. Scarlatti's death at the age of 71 on July 23 1757 was followed by the queen's just over a year later, and that of the totally distressed king a year after that; both were in their mid-40s. The royal music stopped, and the Scarlatti manuscripts found their way into the outside world, with some chance of eventual wider currency.

Very little is known of the character or life of the Madrid musician who died 250 years ago. The most striking observation comes from his English champion Thomas Roseingrave, who noted how the quiet, grave young man dressed in black, whom he met in Italy in or after 1710, played the harpsichord "like ten hundred devils". However, he could be a very genial soul, too, as Handel readily acknowledged.

These judgments chime with the music historian Charles Burney's assessment of Scarlatti's sonatas towards the end of the century: "Original and happy freaks ... the wonder and delight of every hearer who had a spark of enthusiasm about him". They fascinate by drawing substantially on the character and chord patterns of the songs and dances of Spain and Portugal, kept respectable within elegant framing gestures from Italy. Their composer ranks alongside those down the ages - the English virginalists of the 16th century, Chopin, Debussy, Bartok and Ligeti - who shifted the horizons of keyboard music.

Thus it was at the harpsichord, organ or fortepiano that the sometimes troubled Scarlatti was at his most confident - not just carefree, but sometimes recklessly capricious. This quality often shines through at the start of the second of a sonata's repeated halves, where he often embarks in directions quite impossible to anticipate.

In Britain there has always been a following for these single movements, rarely more than five minutes long, and sometimes played in pairs. The 30 published as Essercizi in London in 1738 benefited from the native love of the quirky: Scarlatti's note to the reader points to "an ingenious jesting with art" that appealed to London harpsichordists till Clementi took the works up on the piano. More appeared in Vienna in the first half of the 19th century; from Liszt onwards, virtuoso performers - particularly from Russia - have programmed them. Among composers, Chopin, Brahms and Bartok, all fascinated by the historic and the popular, were particular admirers.

In 1953 the American harpsichordist Ralph Kirkpatrick produced his groundbreaking Scarlatti biography and a catalogue of the composer's complete works - hence the "K" used on the number of each one. Long-playing records provided scope for the hour-long Scarlatti recital that is all too rare in concert life, and in 1985 the late Scott Ross recorded all 555 of the works listed by Kirkpatrick on 34 CDs.

The harpsichord's awakening from its 19th-century slumber coincided with the recognition that Spanish musical nationalists, led by Falla, gave Scarlatti in capturing the country's traditional sounds. It didn't deter them that he came from Naples, where his family had relocated after leaving the Sicilian capital of Palermo. Both cities lay in Spain's then extensive Italian territories, and the great Scarlatti of the day was the celebrated vocal composer Alessandro. Domenico, the sixth of Alessandro's 10 children, started his career with music for the stage and the Vatican. In 1719 he went to Lisbon as the composer and music director to King John V.

It was in Lisbon that Scarlatti perhaps obtained the idea of incorporating folk elements into his keyboard music from a 16-year-old student, Carlos de Seixas. Teaching another student, the king's daughter Maria Barbara, proved so agreeable that Scarlatti continued in her service for the second half of his life, and in 1729 she married Ferdinand, heir to the Spanish throne.

So the Neapolitan master and Portuguese pupil entered the tempestuous world of Spanish court life. For the first four years, they were based in and around Seville, as courtiers sought diversion for Ferdinand's father, the deeply melancholic Philip V. Scarlatti thus got to know the colourful, major-to-minor music of Andalusia, influenced, like that of Portugal, by the centuries-long domination of the Moors, and applied his highly inventive ear to harmonies from beyond the conventional palette of the baroque.

Hindsight holds Scarlatti aloft with Handel and Bach, both also born in 1685, as that era's great composer triplets. While he met Handel, Scarlatti may have known next to nothing of Bach. The comings and goings at the highly musical court of Dresden are likely to have made Bach aware of the composer of the 30 Essercizi, and it remains an open question as to whether they could have prompted him to produce the relatively flamboyant, if altogether weightier, 30 Goldberg Variations.

Still, when Scarlatti arrived in Madrid at the end of 1733, he might have hoped for the sort of platform appropriate to a leading musician of the age. In the event, he was kept to the sidelines in an extraordinary fashion that does much to account for his biographical obscurity.

Everything was thrown into the shade by Philip V's manic depression. He decreed that each court day should start at 5pm, with dinner at 3am. His queen, Elisabetta Farnese, could not leave him on his own, in case he found a pen and tried to abdicate; and all the while she had to govern on his behalf. In 1737, at her wits' end, she hatched a plan for her husband to overhear the visiting Farinelli (stage name of the Italian castrato Carlo Broschi), whose singing overcame his normal indifference to music. Schooled by Elisabetta, Farinelli insisted that the only reward that he sought from the king was that he should be shaved and dressed, and attend the council of ministers. The singer retired as an operatic superstar, and sang Philip the same four or five arias each night for the remaining 10 years of his reign.

Ferdinand and Maria Barbara sought solace from the troubles of Philip's court in the musical evenings that Scarlatti devised for them, with the universally popular Farinelli also taking part. After Philip's death, the new monarchs promoted opera under the direction of the singer, but no opportunity went to Scarlatti to revive the theatrical career of his youth. Maybe he had no financial alternative but to focus on his sonatas, since he had gambling debts that were paid off by the queen and Farinelli. As soon as Ferdinand was succeeded by his half-brother Charles III, Farinelli retired to Italy with instruments left to him by Maria Barbara and her volumes of Scarlatti sonatas.

The harpsichordist Jane Clark has suggested that Scarlatti's empathy with folk material, striking but melodically fragmentary, points to why his operas never took off. The sort of tunes that the audiences of the day wanted did not come to him so easily. It comes as no surprise that he was drawn to the extremes of the Iberian, especially Andalusian, psyche: its music could express both elation and despair, and provide distraction through the spinning of fascinating patterns. If such a combination of circumstances was needed to enable just one great composer to put the harpsichord before all else, and so develop its single most distinctive voice, then we can only be thankful. This once royal music came from everyday roots - and now it's truly everyone's.


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## bdelykleon

Scarlatti is one of the most enjoyable composers to play and listen. The tune sometimes can be so exotic the modulations so surprising, and all that brilliant virtuoso playing with that repeated notes, the crossed hands, all so funny and exciting. In his own time he was seen as a minor composer compared to his father, but the judgement of history turned everything upside down, and the dedication to the then minor genre of keyboard music made him a greater genius than he would be had he turned an operatic composer, that gave freedom to this unstoppable flow of music of his 555 sonatas.

One of his funniest works, the Cat's Fugue, which is an extraordinary feat due to the high chromaticism of the theme:


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## Weston

I think what attracts me most about Scarlatti's sonatas is the rapid modulation as in the second half of this one, K. 455:






It just makes it seem so bright and giddy feeling.

The sonata in E minor, K. 402 is another favorite. Full of feeling and again with abrupt modulations if a bit slower.






It amazes me that virtually every one of these 555 sonatas (and who has heard them all? I haven't.) takes the exact same two section baroque dance suite movement formula, but there is so much variety in them. Yet all are recognizably Scarlatti.

These are tailor made to have synth realizations done of them as Wendy Carlos has done with remarkable results. I also like them on piano, harpsichord, banjo, or accordion. Timeless.


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## Mirror Image

I'm just starting to get into Scarlatti, but from what I heard of his concerti they are amazing. I ordered a recording of his concerti.


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## Kuntster

I like a little Scarlatti. Extremely difficult to perform.


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## Air

Mirror Image said:


> I'm just starting to get into Scarlatti, but from what I heard of his concerti they are amazing. I ordered a recording of his concerti.


I don't recall Domenico Scarlatti writing any concerti (I could be wrong), I know his father, Alessandro Scarlatti, did though. Charles Avison did some beautiful concerti grossi after Domenico Scarlatti's works though. You should definitely check them out.

His 555 keyboard sonatas are masterpieces indeed. I have some brilliant recordings of them by Vladimir Horowitz. What a master.


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## Mirror Image

airad2 said:


> I don't recall Domenico Scarlatti writing any concerti (I could be wrong), I know his father, Alessandro Scarlatti, did though. Charles Avison did some beautiful concerti grossi after Domenico Scarlatti's works though. You should definitely check them out.
> 
> His 555 keyboard sonatas are masterpieces indeed. I have some brilliant recordings of them by Vladimir Horowitz. What a master.


Whoops...thanks Air. I guess I'm referring to Alessandro Scarlatti and actually Alessandro was the father of Domenico.


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## Mark Harwood

Some D. Scarlatti sonatas have been arranged for Classical guitar, much to my delight. Check out Goran Krivokapic, Franco Platino & David Martinez on the Naxos label.


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## Sid James

^bump^

I've just acquired a Hyperion "Helios" disc of Scarlatti's music. It has the sublime _Stabat mater_, as well as some of his sonatas for organ and the _Salve regina_. The _Stabat mater_ grabbed me straight away, I listened to it several times. I can hear this Italian (or southern European?) warmth in it, he must have been an influence on Handel (the article above notes that the two definitely met). The static nature of this music is also very modern, it only gets lively towards the end. It's like a Baroque version of what guys like Messiaen and Arvo Part were doing in the C20th. I'm trying to get into the music of this era via these kind of Italian (or Italianate) composers, because I find (most of what I've heard of) the music of J. S. Bach too heavy, technical and dry. I hope to see the _Stabat mater_ live one day, that would be awesome!...


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## mamascarlatti

Weston said:


> The sonata in E minor, K. 402 is another favorite.  Full of feeling and again with abrupt modulations if a bit slower.


I learned to play the piano just so that I could play this one. I managed, too. Scarlatti sonatas always delight me, I love the unexpectedness of them and the range of moods.

I haven't heard the Stabat mater but I'm going to borrow it from the library.


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## TWhite

mamascarlatti said:


> I learned to play the piano just so that I could play this one. I managed, too. Scarlatti sonatas always delight me, I love the unexpectedness of them and the range of moods.
> 
> I haven't heard the Stabat mater but I'm going to borrow it from the library.


One of the best observations I ever read was that of Alicia delaRoccha, who said that in order to play contemporary Spanish piano music, one must study Scarlatti.

I have. He's an absolute Wizard, IMO. It's totally delightful, harmonically adventurous, and technically demanding. I found myself placing my hands in positions I never knew they could go. When I finally got the nerve to tackle some pieces from the Albeniz "Iberia" Suite, I suddenly realized how right Mme. delaRoccha was. "Iberia" is Scarlattian technique adapted to Romantic/Impressionist music of a very high calibre.

And Scarlatti's music itself? Of an extraordinary calibre. There is so MUCH that one can learn from his keyboard technique, to say nothing of how incredibly forward-looking his harmonies are.

IMO, an absolutely BRILLIANT composer. I love him. And generally speaking, I'm not a huge fan of Baroque music. But Scarlatti is in an absolute class by himself. He HAS no 'Era', he's ALWAYS Contemporary in the very best sense of the word.

Tom


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## HarpsichordConcerto

Agree with all.

I recently bought the complete Scarlatti harpsichord sonatas played by Pieter-Jan Belder on the _Brilliant Classics_ (budget) label, 36CDs and it was on special offer too, all for 50 British Pound Sterling. Can't wait to go through them at my listening leisure. Before this purchase, I have only three to four dozen of the 555 sonatas played by a few harpsichord players, and have been eager to buy the complete collection when someone records them all on a period harpsichord (Belder actually played on more than one harpsichord and a few on the fortepiano and organ, according to the notes).

The _Stabat Mater_ is a very subtle piece, beautiful throughout. My version on recording played by _Concerto Italiano_.

We should also mention a Portugese (near) contemporary and student of Scarlatti. He was Carlos de Seixas (1704 to 1742), who also wrote many keyboard sonatas that, on the surface, sound Scarlatti-sh. I have one CD on the Naxos label, harpsichordist Debora Halasz (who according to the Naxos website, is on a project to record all of the surviving Seixas sonatas).


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## StlukesguildOhio

I quite love Domenico Scarlatti myself. There was a marvelous description of his music in poetic terms in which it was described as akin to the sound of pearls dancing and skittering across the floor after a necklace has broken. In spite of this, I do question the assertion of the writer from the Guardian who suggests that Scarlatti stands clearly as the third great composer of his age... along side Bach and Handel. There are far too many others including Vivaldi, Lully, Rameau, Biber, Zelenka, and even Scarlatti's own father, Alessandro who may have equal if not superior claim to such a status. The Baroque cannot be limited to Bach, Handel and Scarlatti (or Vivaldi) anymore than Romanticism can be chocked up to Wagner, Brahms, and Schubert.


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## anshuman

I heard Scarlatti mostly on the harpsichord and despite the fact that i have not much love for the harpsichord,the music was brilliant. However ever since i have heard Yevgeny Sudbin playing some of the sonatas i have become a huge fan of scarlatti jr. I intend to hear all of his sonatas in my lifetime.


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## Aramis

Much time passed since I thought that I must hear him out and much time passed since I got recordings in my collection. I finally did listen to Pletnev disc today. I've choosed to listen sonatas K 247, 213 and 519. As much as F minor sounded to me as totally uninteresting and almost pointless baroque piece the two slower ones, D and Cis minor were stunning, I've heard much of Scarlatti being wild but these slow and lyrical pieces I listened like they would be Chopin's nocturnes. Sure, it's diffrent technically but the experience is almost the same. Really beautiful.

I'm gonna explore him further.


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## HarpsichordConcerto

Aramis said:


> Much time passed since I thought that I must hear him out and much time passed since I got recordings in my collection. I finally did listen to Pletnev disc today. I've choosed to listen sonatas K 247, 213 and 519. As much as F minor sounded to me as totally uninteresting and almost pointless baroque piece the two slower ones, D and Cis minor were stunning, I've heard much of Scarlatti being wild but these slow and lyrical pieces I listened like they would be Chopin's nocturnes. Sure, it's diffrent technically but the experience is almost the same. Really beautiful.
> 
> I'm gonna explore him further.


Good. If you're thinking about the sonatas, then you still have another 552 to go.


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## Air

Michelangeli is my favorite Scarlatti interpreter. I find that a rational pianist works better than a spontaneous one in these works. The main selling point is that Michelangeli knows how to execute what he reasons and wants perfectly, so that all the notes fall exactly into their place in the context of the entire musical work. The recital from Helsinki, found in the box set below, is IMHO his best:










There are 5 Scarlatti sonatas included. While I would recommend the Gold Aura Michelangeli set overall, the blue 10-cd Aura box is still worth its weight in gold, full of priceless recordings with the Helsinki Scarlatti being perhaps the most indispensable.


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## tdc

Aramis said:


> Much time passed since I thought that I must hear him out and much time passed since I got recordings in my collection. I finally did listen to Pletnev disc today. I've choosed to listen sonatas K 247, 213 and 519. As much as F minor sounded to me as totally uninteresting and almost pointless baroque piece the two slower ones, D and Cis minor were stunning, I've heard much of Scarlatti being wild but these slow and lyrical pieces I listened like they would be Chopin's nocturnes. Sure, it's diffrent technically but the experience is almost the same. Really beautiful.
> 
> I'm gonna explore him further.


Good, Im sure you'll find that exploration rewarding. I'm quite sure I also recall that Frederic Chopin thought very highly of Scarlatti, even comparing him to Mozart.


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## zoziejemaar

I quite agree to the above comments. Scarlatti's music is absolutely wonderful and adventurous. He seemed to have crystallized each single each human feeling in one musical miniature.



> I do question the assertion of the writer from the Guardian who suggests that Scarlatti stands clearly as the third great composer of his age... along side Bach and Handel.


Yes, to say that he was alongside Bach and Handel the major Baroque composer, is way over the top. It should include Vivaldi, not Handel. 

I love the K519, by the way. On my recording of Christian Zacharias, it sounds exciting, without a trace of Baroque formula.


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## Taggart

We've just started listening to him and (eventually) found this guestbook.( Google on site:TC). I though I'd resurface it and link to this thread on (2011) recordings of Alessandro Scarlatti's works.


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## hpowders

How's this for one of Scarlatti's most daringly different sonatas?
I've never heard anything else like it!


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## Mandryka

hpowders said:


> How's this for one of Scarlatti's most daringly different sonatas?
> I've never heard anything else like it!


That Hantai performance is a really good example of interrupted repeated short tunes, which Hantai thinks is somehow essential to what Scarlatti's about. It's interesting to hear Belder play it, or Schiff, they seem to have a really different understanding of the music.


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## hpowders

Mandryka said:


> That Hantai performance is a really good example of interrupted repeated short tunes, which Hantai thinks is somehow essential to what Scarlatti's about. It's interesting to hear Belder play it, or Schiff, they seem to have a really different understanding of the music.


My favorite performance of it is by Kenneth Weiss, but I chose the Hantaï because of his headstrong virtuosity.


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## Weston

Here's a handy little Kirkpatrick / Longo, etc. catalog converter for those, like me, wishing to collect all 550+ sonatas in different interpretations, but not wanting to repeat too many:

Converter for Scarlatti's Works Number


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## clavichorder

Since he wrote the entirety of his famous output for the keyboard, one has the luxury of playing for themselves the ones they like with a very likely chance of appreciating this composer even more.


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## Mandryka

clavichorder said:


> Since he wrote the entirety of his famous output for the keyboard, one has the luxury of playing for themselves the ones they like with a very likely chance of appreciating this composer even more.


Do you know K 81? It's nearly always played with violin but Luca Guglielmi has modified it and turned it into a keyboard only sonata, following what he argues was standard practice in DS's day. He's recorded it on a fortepiano -- the piano's cool and the music is charming.


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## Mandryka

hpowders said:


> How's this for one of Scarlatti's most daringly different sonatas?
> I've never heard anything else like it!


Which one were you (we) talking about?


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## Necronomicon

Can anyone recommend some good recordings of his sonata's played on guitar? I know there a few around.


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## CDs

Just picked up my first Scarlatti CD.








18 Sonatas by Yevgeny Sudbin

Generally I don't like piano sonatas but Scarlatti's I'm really enjoying.

"One of the most fascinating things about Scarlatti is that no matter how many recordings there are of his music, he never sounds the same: with this composer there is an endless number of possible approaches and transformations" Yevgeny Sudbin (CD booklet page 3)


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## Guest




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## Pugg

CDs said:


> Just picked up my first Scarlatti CD.
> 
> View attachment 94451
> 
> 18 Sonatas by Yevgeny Sudbin
> 
> Generally I don't like piano sonatas but Scarlatti's I'm really enjoying.
> 
> "One of the most fascinating things about Scarlatti is that no matter how many recordings there are of his music, he never sounds the same: with this composer there is an endless number of possible approaches and transformations" Yevgeny Sudbin (CD booklet page 3)


He also recorded this one:
http://www.prestoclassical.co.uk/r/BIS/BISCD1508

Not to be missed .


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## Animal the Drummer

I love the fact that these wonderful pieces were all composed after Scarlatti retired from his day job. The fact that they effectively constitute the longest and most joyous musical expression of demob-happiness ever just adds to their magic for me.


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## Animal the Drummer

Air said:


> Michelangeli is my favorite Scarlatti interpreter. I find that a rational pianist works better than a spontaneous one in these works. The main selling point is that Michelangeli knows how to execute what he reasons and wants perfectly, so that all the notes fall exactly into their place in the context of the entire musical work. The recital from Helsinki, found in the box set below, is IMHO his best:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> There are 5 Scarlatti sonatas included. While I would recommend the Gold Aura Michelangeli set overall, the blue 10-cd Aura box is still worth its weight in gold, full of priceless recordings with the Helsinki Scarlatti being perhaps the most indispensable.


I'm less convinced about Michelangeli's Scarlatti than you are. There's some magical playing in there, but at times a degree of over-personalised and somewhat anachronistic pulling-about of the music too, IMHO of course.


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## Animal the Drummer

Aramis said:


> Much time passed since I thought that I must hear him out and much time passed since I got recordings in my collection. I finally did listen to Pletnev disc today. I've choosed to listen sonatas K 247, 213 and 519. As much as F minor sounded to me as totally uninteresting and almost pointless baroque piece the two slower ones, D and Cis minor were stunning, I've heard much of Scarlatti being wild but these slow and lyrical pieces I listened like they would be Chopin's nocturnes. Sure, it's diffrent technically but the experience is almost the same. Really beautiful.
> 
> I'm gonna explore him further.


Some of Scarlatti's sonatas are certainly fast and very difficult to play. He was a tremendous virtuoso himself and bested Handel in the harpsichord part of a contest they once held in Rome, though Handel won the organ contest. Across Scarlatti's sonatas as a whole, though, there are approximately two of the slow ones for each fast display piece, though one could be forgiven for not realising this as soloists can tend to concentrate more on the showier sonatas.


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## Pugg

Animal the Drummer said:


> Some of Scarlatti's sonatas are certainly fast and very difficult to play. He was a tremendous virtuoso himself and bested Handel in the harpsichord part of a contest they once held in Rome, though Handel won the organ contest. Across Scarlatti's sonatas as a whole, though, there are approximately two of the slow ones for each fast display piece, though one could be forgiven for not realising this as soloists can tend to concentrate more on the showier sonatas.


I would, if it means food on the table.


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## Mandryka

Animal the Drummer said:


> there are approximately two of the slow ones for each fast display piece.


Are you sure?

.......


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## Animal the Drummer

Saw it years ago in a CD sleeve-note, which I've not yet been able to find again. (It could well have been a CD I looked at but didn't buy.) As it happens that 2:1 split would still leave over 180 quick ones.


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## DeepR

I love these sonatas. And Horowitz playing them!


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## Itullian

I have the Scott Ross collection. Wonderful.


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## DeepR

I play this one myself. But it's better I post Horowitz 
Should study more of these.


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## Pugg

DeepR said:


> I play this one myself. But it's better I post Horowitz
> Should study more of these.


I know the feeling......


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## flamencosketches

Forgive me for bumping an old post. I've really been enjoying Ivo Pogorelich's interpretation of some of Scarlatti's sonatas. It's all extremely lyrical and melodic, I'm a big fan. However, I'm just now getting into classical music and my knowledge is not up to par with some others on the boards, and I had a question, I guess. I've heard this recording criticized for Pogorelich taking a somewhat romantic approach to his playing and that it comes off "anachronistic". Does anyone have any recommendations for players with a more faithful rendition of some of these sonatas? I see mention of Horowitz on this page, and this one sounds really good, maybe I'll look into more of his interpretations.

I really enjoy this Pogorelich disc in any case. Highly recommended.

Thank you.


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## Mandryka

flamencosketches said:


> Forgive me for bumping an old post. I've really been enjoying Ivo Pogorelich's interpretation of some of Scarlatti's sonatas. It's all extremely lyrical and melodic, I'm a big fan. However, I'm just now getting into classical music and my knowledge is not up to par with some others on the boards, and I had a question, I guess. I've heard this recording criticized for Pogorelich taking a somewhat romantic approach to his playing and that it comes off "anachronistic". Does anyone have any recommendations for players with a more faithful rendition of some of these sonatas? I see mention of Horowitz on this page, and this one sounds really good, maybe I'll look into more of his interpretations.
> 
> I really enjoy this Pogorelich disc in any case. Highly recommended.
> 
> Thank you.


I think that this is a really interesting question if you want one on modern piano with popular sonatas, I hope someone will make some intelligent and informed suggestions.

I could point you to some authentic ones on a fortepiano, though not necessarily with the well known pops, by fortepiano I just mean the type of piano that Scarlatti would have known. Let me know if this is something which you're interested in.


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## flamencosketches

I'd be open to hearing some of those recordings. I'm not too familiar with the differences between the fortepiano and modern piano but I know that up to a certain point all of the keyboard music we know today was written for one of those or a harpsichord... leading to another question, if anyone might know, was Scarlatti writing for fortepiano or harpsichord? 

But yeah, I'd definitely be interested to check out those fortepiano renditions. Thanks.


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## Mandryka

Maybe you'll be interested in this


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## LudwigVanBodewes

Have you checked out the recent recordings of ALL Scarlatti Sonatas on harpsichord by Claudio Colombo? These are pretty faithful but one must like the harpsichord.


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## Josquin13

If you're looking to hear a pianist play Scarlatti in a more HIP style than Pogorelich, you might try Virginia Black, who through her career has been a pianist turned harpsichordist turned back to pianist. She's done one Scarlatti disc on a piano & it's excellent: 




Harpsichordist Luc Beauséjour has also recorded some Scarlatti on a piano:





https://www.amazon.com/Baroque-Sess...qid=1547005974&sr=1-2&keywords=luc+beausejour

Black and Beauséjour should give you some idea about how valid the criticisms of Pogorelich's Scarlatti are. Though personally, I think Pogo plays Scarlatti with such verve & imagination that the criticisms don't matter. (Besides, he's less 'romantic' than Horowitz. In fact, I don't find Pogo's Scarlatti especially romantic, but find that he plays with style and insight.)

My favorite Scarlatti pianists are Dubravka Tomsic, Ivo Pogorelich, Christian Zacharias, Vladimir Horowitz, (Virginia Black), and Andras Schiff, and in that order.


























This following discount disc is the most essential Scarlatti piano CD that I can recommend to you: https://www.amazon.com/Scarlatti-So...7005887&sr=1-1&keywords=tomsic+scarlatti+pilz

On harpsichord, Pierre Hantai is a top choice, if you want to hear Scarlatti played on a harpsichord. I also like Scott Ross (complete set), Fabio Bonizzoni, and Jan-Pieter Belder (complete set).














My two cents.


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## Mandryka

I think if you’re going to play Scarlatti correctly you need speed and you need brilliance and you need colour, all three of which aren’t obviously the strengths of a Steinway for example.


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## flamencosketches

Thanks for all the recommendations, this should keep me busy.

I'm going to try and track down that Enrico Baiano. I liked the few tracks I listened to last night. Going to check out that Colombo now too.

@Josquin. That Virginia Black recording does sound quite a bit more faithful to the style of the time even if it is on a modern piano. Going to try and find that disc as well, and if she ranks fifth then I gotta hear some of these others too. Damn, I've got a lot to look into.


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## Larkenfield

Don't miss out on "Scarlatti: Man Out of Time" on PBS:
https://www.pbs.org/video/now-hear-this-scarlatti-man-out-of-time-40tfbh/
He was much more influential than most people imagine. I consider him a genius who drew on the the Spanish culture that surrounded him to create the masterpieces that he did.


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## millionrainbows

Larkenfield said:


> Don't miss out on "Scarlatti: Man Out of Time" on PBS:
> https://www.pbs.org/video/now-hear-this-scarlatti-man-out-of-time-40tfbh/
> He was much more influential than most people imagine. I consider him a genius who drew on the the Spanish culture that surrounded him to create the masterpieces that he did.


Wow, fantastic documentary, very informative. Thank you, Larkenfield!

After seeing this, I wonder if there is one "authentic" way of playing Scarlatti if it doesn't take into consideration all of these Spanish and Moorish influences. His music was obviously very free and eclectic. One thing: it's gotta have SOUL!

In other words, I dare say that the same HIP criteria which might apply to other European composers like Bach could not necessarily be applied to Scarlatti, so throw out your paradigms!

If Pogorelich was "unorthodox," he might be on the right track!


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## Bwv 1080

millionrainbows said:


> Wow, fantastic documentary, very informative. Thank you, Larkenfield!
> 
> After seeing this, I wonder if there is one "authentic" way of playing Scarlatti if it doesn't take into consideration all of these Spanish and Moorish influences. His music was obviously very free and eclectic. One thing: it's gotta have SOUL!
> 
> In other words, I dare say that the same HIP criteria which might apply to other European composers like Bach could not necessarily be applied to Scarlatti, so throw out your paradigms!
> 
> If Pogorelich was "unorthodox," he might be on the right track!


Or better yet, just play it on guitar


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## Larkenfield




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## Larkenfield




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## Mandryka

Bwv 1080 said:


> Or better yet, just play it on guitar


Nah. Play it on mandolin


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## millionrainbows

Mandryka said:


> Nah. Play it on mandolin


Aww, come on, get with the times! Play it on a ukulele!


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## Mandryka

millionrainbows said:


> Aww, come on, get with the times! Play it on a ukulele!


What are you? One of the Beverly Hillbillies? If you want to get with the times try this


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