Domenico Scarlatti (1685-1757)

[Brian]

Something to keep in mind is, do you like the sound of the harpsichord? Not just in general, but the instrument Ross uses - could you imagine listening to however many CDs of that particular sound?

I don't know too much about HIP Scarlatti, Scott Ross, or other harpsichord greats, so I will shush up about it. I'm listening to a piano version of K. 417 while typing this!

[Scion7]

Well - that's 400+ sonatas for harpsichord.  I love Scarlatti's music, but 400 pieces for that instrument would be overboard - I think I have the last 50 or so or thereabouts.  Maybe you might want to go for the late(r) sonatas first?  The very early ones are more like juvenile practice exercises.

[Brahmsian]

Something to keep in mind is, do you like the sound of the harpsichord? Not just in general, but the instrument Ross uses - could you imagine listening to however many CDs of that particular sound?

I don't know too much about HIP Scarlatti, Scott Ross, or other harpsichord greats, so I will shush up about it. I'm listening to a piano version of K. 417 while typing this!

Well, I know I really loved the sonata I've heard (I can't even remember offhand which one it was), and it was on a harpsichord.  I believe Ross is the only one to record the complete catalogue (550 sonatas?).

I should probably hold back the reins a bit. 

[Brahmsian]

Well - that's 400+ sonatas for harpsichord.  I love Scarlatti's music, but 400 pieces for that instrument would be overboard - I think I have the last 50 or so or thereabouts.  Maybe you might want to go for the late(r) sonatas first?  The very early ones are more like juvenile practice exercises.

Yes, I should probably hold back a bit.  Perhaps get a few discs sampling both:  performances on harpsichord and performances on piano.

[Brian]

Yes, I should probably hold back a bit.  Perhaps get a few discs sampling both:  performances on harpsichord and performances on piano.

555 sonatas, btw, a nice number!

If you want to try a piano sampler, the best place to start is probably Mikhail Pletnev. There are also great recitals featuring Christian Zacharias, Yevgeny Sudbin, and, if you like his style, Vladimir Horowitz. Not to mention Matan Porat's unforgettably weird recital "Variations on a Theme by Scarlatti," where he plays one Scarlatti sonata and then 23 similar works by other composers, pretending they are "variations". (The composers include Grieg, Kurtag, Couperin, Shostakovich, Brahms, and - played back-to-back!!! - Boulez and Mozart.) He also improvises his own cadenza on the Scarlatti tune.

[Todd]

I believe Ross is the only one to record the complete catalogue (550 sonatas?).

Pieter-Jan Belder has also recorded them all.

[Jo498]

Does any of the numberings (Longo or Kirkpatrick) follow a chronological order? I always thought that ALL of the 555 keyboard sonatas were fairly "late" works (from the 1730s onwards) and that "essercizi" was mainly the title given to a subset that was published.

Anyway, I have not heard all of them nor do I own a set. I'd recommend getting a few discs from different artists.
Many pianists and most harpsichordists have recorded at least one or two anthologies, and some several discs worth (Staier has three or four). The Belder came in (clumsy) 3-disc-boxes, some of which can be picked up for a pittance occasionally.

[Scion7]

I have two 2-LP discs - one on DG Archiv, the other on Telefunken - of the sonatas - and that is enough to feed the fire.

[Brian]

Does any of the numberings (Longo or Kirkpatrick) follow a chronological order? I always thought that ALL of the 555 keyboard sonatas were fairly "late" works (from the 1730s onwards) and that "essercizi" was mainly the title given to a subset that was published.

You are correct. Scarlatti started writing the 555 after his 50th birthday. I've never been able to detect a major change in quality from start to finish - right now I'm listening to K. 32, which is one of the very best of all and maybe one of my favorite keyboard works ever.

[Mandryka]

Does any of the numberings (Longo or Kirkpatrick) follow a chronological order? I always thought that ALL of the 555 keyboard sonatas were fairly "late" works (from the 1730s onwards) and that "essercizi" was mainly the title given to a subset that was published.

No one knows. The oldest editions date from when Scarlatti was in his 60s, but nothing follows about when he wrote the music. Kirkpatrick thought he arranged them in chronological order of composition but this is very speculative. The sonatas from the final books are less virtuosic, possibly reflecting a deterioration in Maria Barbara's skills (Kirpkpatrick speculates she became so fat she couldn't cross her hands at the keyboard.)

[Scion7]

The sonatas from the final books are less virtuosic, possibly reflecting a deterioration in Maria Barbara's skills (Kirpkpatrick speculates she became so fat she couldn't cross her hands at the keyboard.)

      

[prémont]

I am considering Scott Ross' complete set of Scarlatti's sonatas (wanting harpsichord, not fortepiano nor piano).  Currently on sale at $76 CDN at Presto Classical.

Yay or nay?   

http://www.prestoclassical.co.uk/r/Erato/2564629945

I payed more than twice as much a long time ago, and I still consider it worth the cost. But of course you have to be very interested in the music.

[prémont]

Pieter-Jan Belder has also recorded them all.

And Gilbert Rowland and Richard Lester.

[Jo498]

As I recall the story, Scarlatti himself had become too fat but it might be slander. (Handel apparently still played well despite his immense girth.)

[Brian]

As I recall the story, Scarlatti himself had become too fat but it might be slander. (Handel apparently still played well despite his immense girth.)

As does the enormous present-day virtuoso Alexander Markovich. (Google doesn't have a picture, understandably.)

[(poco) Sforzando]

As I recall the story, Scarlatti himself had become too fat but it might be slander. (Handel apparently still played well despite his immense girth.)

The girth, if reported accurately, could have affected his ability to play cross-hand passages (very common in the sonatas, and also in the first movement of Mozart's K 331).

[Mandryka]

Hantai will release a 4th cd of sonatas next month.

[Karl Henning]

I payed more than twice as much a long time ago, and I still consider it worth the cost. But of course you have to be very interested in the music.

Yes, entirely worthwhile IMO.

[Todd]

As does the enormous present-day virtuoso Alexander Markovich. (Google doesn't have a picture, understandably.)

Yes it does.  Bing, too.  (I had to check.  It's rare for a photo not to exist.)

[Brahmsian]

Wow, thank you everyone for the great feedback!    Not sure yet what I'm going to do, but I will do something.