Domenico Scarlatti (1685-1757)

[SurprisedByBeauty]

The 10 Best Classical Recordings Of 2016
#3 Scarlatti: http://bit.ly/Forbes_Best_Classical_Recordings_2016_New


(Sudbin's new album)

[SonicMan46]

The 10 Best Classical Recordings Of 2016
#3 Scarlatti: http://bit.ly/Forbes_Best_Classical_Recordings_2016_New

(Sudbin's new album)

Thanks Jens for the link and your reviews - I own a number of those CDs, including the Scarlatti - but just put the Jean Roger-Ducasse 3-CD set in my Amazon cart - new composer to me - also found some other excellent 'thumbs-up' reviews - Dave

[prémont]

I've only just realised why you said this. Does the unnumbered one antedate vol. 1?

I have only just now seen this post.

The answer is yes, the Naive CD was his first Scarlatti recording.

[SurprisedByBeauty]

Thanks Jens for the link and your reviews - I own a number of those CDs, including the Scarlatti - but just put the Jean Roger-Ducasse 3-CD set in my Amazon cart - new composer to me - also found some other excellent 'thumbs-up' reviews - Dave

Thanks for reading and the kind words! I hope you'll like that Roger-Ducasse as much (or even just almost as much) as I do.

Meanwhile, apropos to this thread:


#morninglistening to #Scarlatti on the long-awaited fourth volume from #PierreHantaï on #M... http://ift.tt/2hPwHQQ

Finally!

[Mandryka]

Mario Martinoli has chosen sonatas to illustrate Scarlatti's writing in different keys. And of course keys suggest affects. This, combined with Martnolli's reflective tempos, results in performances which are particularly interesting expressively. He says that Leonhardt was a major influence, and I can imagine that anyone who appreciates Leonhardt's DHM Scarlatti will enjoy this, I think it's worth hearing.

I don't think that the title is supposed to suggest anything interesting's going on about the way the instrument has been tuned, unfortunately.

[aukhawk]

Mario Martinoli has chosen sonatas to illustrate Scarlatti's writing in different keys. And of course keys suggest affects.

In a well-tempered world ? ?

(I must admit to a personal predilection for D minor, but there's really no logic to that.)

[Brian]

Nobody replied to this in Recordings You Are Considering, so...:

Does anyone have favorite box sets of Domenico Scarlatti on piano? I'm collecting consistently fresh, imaginative piano recitals available on single CDs or twofers, but was curious if there are any noteworthy boxes where I can get a bunch of goodies at once. Only one I know of is Zacharias/EMI?

The solo/2CD piano recitals I'm collecting include Yevgeny Sudbin, Claire Huangci, Konstantin Scherbakov, Sergei Babayan, Goran Filipec, Benjamin Frith, and Anne Queffelec.

[Karl Henning]

I don't get the impression that pianists have gone in for extensive Scarlatti recording. And there are some sonatas with repeated notes (e.g.) which work well on harpsichord, but to which the piano's action is less amenable.

I like the Babayan.

[amw]

I guess there's also the ongoing Naxos series with a variety of different pianists, but I can't think of any individual pianists who have recorded more than 2 CDs worth of Scarlatti except Zacharias (4 discs on EMI, one of which is twenty performances of the same sonata, and 1 on MDG). Angela Hewitt has started recording volumes of Scarlatti but doubt she'll do so extensively enough to merit a box set either.

[Brian]

I don't get the impression that pianists have gone in for extensive Scarlatti recording. And there are some sonatas with repeated notes (e.g.) which work well on harpsichord, but to which the piano's action is less amenable.

I like the Babayan.

I guess there's also the ongoing Naxos series with a variety of different pianists, but I can't think of any individual pianists who have recorded more than 2 CDs worth of Scarlatti except Zacharias (4 discs on EMI, one of which is twenty performances of the same sonata, and 1 on MDG). Angela Hewitt has started recording volumes of Scarlatti but doubt she'll do so extensively enough to merit a box set either.

Thanks, that is about what I afeared. It makes sense, though - Scarlatti was probably largely an opener/encore for pianists for most of the 20th century, not someone to dive into for an hour. Guess a really deep, years-long engagement with Scarlatti's music hasn't appealed to many pianists beyond Zacharias and maybe Hewitt, Pletnev, or Queffelec.

By the way, amw, of the Naxos series so far I've most impressed by Frith, Scherbakov, Filipec (who recorded almost all fast ones), and one of the most recent volumes (Yasynskyy, Kennard, or Monteiro) but can't remember which. I started diving into that series after my GMG connection became unreliable, so I haven't been able to take the kind of careful notes I would have wanted to do to keep them straight. My taste leans toward very pianistic and individualized; some of the other performers in the series prefer to do a less dynamically Big, more clean'n'easy style in deference to the harpsichord originals, and they can also be good - Gerda Struhal, Duanduan Hao, Orion Weiss.

EDIT: Carlo Grante has recorded 450 sonatas so far on a Bosendorfer. Has anyone heard that series? It's in 5 boxes so far, but they are not affordable to collect (on Amazon, the 5 combined are $225).

[amw]

I have not. I have also not heard great things about Carlo Grante as a performer, but it's probably not as bad as the Claudio Colombo complete set on a MIDI keyboard. There appear to be several volumes on Spotify if you want to give them a test run.

Another pianist who recorded 4 CDs of Scarlatti is Maria Tipo, of which the two currently available (Vox & EMI) are superlative, and the other two never made it off LP.

edit: and there appears to be an almost-complete multi-pianist set released by Czech Radio but I have no idea if it's physically available or just a digital release.

[Mandryka]

Isn't there a whole load of modern piano Scarlatti on Tacet by someone?

[Karl Henning]

By the way, amw, of the Naxos series so far I've most impressed by Frith, Scherbakov, Filipec (who recorded almost all fast ones), and one of the most recent volumes (Yasynskyy, Kennard, or Monteiro) but can't remember which.

I am not at all surprised that Frith and Scherbakov shine here;  I have greatly enjoyed any recording I have heard by either.

Have you heard the Pletnev disc, Brian?

[Brian]

Thanks again, all. Mandryka is right - there is a lot of Scarlatti on modern piano on the Tacet label, someone named Christoph Ullrich who is, confusingly, recording all the sonatas in chronological order, but releasing them out of order, so that the volumes currently available are Vols. 1, 11, 14, and 15. They appear to be two-CD sets.

I found Carlo Grante on Naxos Music Library, happily. Gonna try that this afternoon. Joyce Hatto was Carlo Grante for at least one CD, and his Scarlatti series is produced by Paul Badura-Skoda on one of PBS's pianos, so the credentials are worth investigating.

Thanks for the Maria Tipo, uh, tip. That sounds super up my alley.

Have you heard the Pletnev disc, Brian?

Yes! I love his idiosyncrasies when I know it's him, but funnily enough, in the GMG blind listening game we did with K. 27 I did not like him so much for the exact same reason.

Currently playing Anne Queffelec's Mirare recital and gosh, is it wonderful.

[Mandryka]

I have not. I have also not heard great things about Carlo Grante as a performer, but it's probably not as bad as the Claudio Colombo complete set on a MIDI keyboard. There appear to be several volumes on Spotify if you want to give them a test run.

Another pianist who recorded 4 CDs of Scarlatti is Maria Tipo, of which the two currently available (Vox & EMI) are superlative, and the other two never made it off LP.

edit: and there appears to be an almost-complete multi-pianist set released by Czech Radio but I have no idea if it's physically available or just a digital release.

I listened to a handful of sonatas by Carlo Granté last night. What struck me is how poised and balanced, sane, tame it sounded.  Maybe this is inevitable with modern piano. Anyway, I thought it was gross distortion of the music. Pianists should keep their mits off most of most of these sonatas!

[Karl Henning]

Yes! I love his idiosyncrasies when I know it's him, but funnily enough, in the GMG blind listening game we did with K. 27 I did not like him so much for the exact same reason.

I could see that, yes.

I listened to a handful of sonatas by Carlo Granté last night. What struck me is how poised and balanced, sane, tame it sounded.  Maybe this is inevitable with modern piano. Anyway, I thought it was gross distortion of the music. Pianists should keep their mits off most of most of these sonatas!

While I see your point, a professional pianist does need to be familiar with these pieces, as historical training.  It's only natural and probably inevitable that affection for the pieces will mean, they get programmed.

[Florestan]

I listened to a handful of sonatas by Carlo Granté last night. What struck me is how poised and balanced, sane, tame it sounded.  Maybe this is inevitable with modern piano. Anyway, I thought it was gross distortion of the music. Pianists should keep their mits off most of most of these sonatas!

Pianists (or any other instrumentists, for that matter) should be free to play whatever they want and however they want --- implying, of course, in whatever way it makes sense to their own artistic vision --- and they are under no effing obligation to justify or defend their interpretative choices by writing, or citing, scholarly essays. Conversely, we as listeners are free to accept or reject their interpretation and ultimately prefer that (or those) which best suit(s) our own taste.

As for distorting the music, I refer you to the book I posted in the HIP debate thread.

[Draško]

The solo/2CD piano recitals I'm collecting include Yevgeny Sudbin, Claire Huangci, Konstantin Scherbakov, Sergei Babayan, Goran Filipec, Benjamin Frith, and Anne Queffelec.

Pogorelich and Tomsic are worth having.

[amw]

Also if you like historical pianos, Aline Zylberajch has a disc on Ambronay on a Silbermann Cristofori replica that's not to be missed. (There are also some fortepianos in the Belder & Lester integrals but not, as far as I know, available outside the box sets)

[Biffo]

I haven't listened to the Horowitz recording in years.  It was the first recording of these sonatas I heard on piano and I wonder how it stands up today.

A couple of years ago DG issued a set of Horowitz's later recordings and it included some Scarlatti. The gush in the booklet said something along the lines that most pianists would give their right arms to be able to play Scarlatti like Horowitz. To me it didn't even sound like Scarlatti. I have very little Scarlatti on the piano (Michelangeli and few others), I vastly prefer it played on the harpsichord.