Domenico Scarlatti (1685-1757)

[The new erato]

That's Scott Ross, right? He plays the works on harpsichord I imagine?

Read this for enlightenment:

http://www.overgrownpath.com/2005/12/if-you-only-buy-thirty-four-cds-this.html

[Coopmv]

Read this for enlightenment:

http://www.overgrownpath.com/2005/12/if-you-only-buy-thirty-four-cds-this.html

I think I saw the 34-CD set.  That is a bit much IMO as Scarlatti is no Johann Sebastian Bach.  I can deal with a 60 CD Bach Cantatas set or that mega set of 155 CD's from BC, but a 34-CD set of Scarlatti's harpsichord works?

[George]

Read this for enlightenment:

http://www.overgrownpath.com/2005/12/if-you-only-buy-thirty-four-cds-this.html

Thanks.

From that page:

Scott Ross began his recording of Scarlatti's 555 sonatas on 16th June 1984. Ninety-eight sessions were required, and the last take was completed on 10th September 1885. In all, there had been eight thousand takes.

Wow, he travelled back in time to record these works. Can't get any more HIP than that. 

[Antoine Marchand]

Read this for enlightenment:

http://www.overgrownpath.com/2005/12/if-you-only-buy-thirty-four-cds-this.html

"When I hear Glenn Gould, I say, he understood nothing about Bach. An artist who doesn't show himself in public has a problem. He's so much off-target that you'd need a 747 to take him back" (Scott Ross).

Three different ideas in one statement: the first one is probably wrong; the second, deep and the latter funny.

[Josquin des Prez]

I think I saw the 34-CD set.  That is a bit much IMO as Scarlatti is no Johann Sebastian Bach.  I can deal with a 60 CD Bach Cantatas set or that mega set of 155 CD's from BC, but a 34-CD set of Scarlatti's harpsichord works?

I bought the set about five ears ago and i still haven't tired of it. Imagine Vivaldi maintaining the same level of inspiration of his Opus 3 to every single one of his concertos, then add a more advanced use of harmony and you'll get Scarlatti. After Bach, he is the greatest composer for the harpsichord that ever lived. My opinion of course.

[Coopmv]

"When I hear Glenn Gould, I say, he understood nothing about Bach. An artist who doesn't show himself in public has a problem. He's so much off-target that you'd need a 747 to take him back" (Scott Ross).

Three different ideas in one statement: the first one is probably wrong; the second, deep and the latter funny.

Rosalyn Tureck was passionate about Bach keyboard works and Glenn Gould kind of modeled his performance life after her.  Tureck was not known to have performed many non-Bach keyboard works either ...

[Josquin des Prez]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3vpG1PgFF34&feature=related

Straight like an arrow, with no artificial turns or twists of any kind, like God intended. Lots of harpsichord players are so obsessed with coming up with clever ways to spike the ornamentation that they sometimes forget the structure of the piece. The harpsichord works of Handel tend to suffer from this trend a lot.

[Josquin des Prez]

Rosalyn Tureck was passionate about Bach keyboard works and Glenn Gould kind of modeled his performance life after her.  Tureck was not known to have performed many non-Bach keyboard works either ...

Is there a point here? The fact Scott Ross disagreed with Gould doesn't necessarily mean he objected to Tureck as well. Further more, the fact Tureck was passionate about Bach doesn't mean she got it right, either. Notice how Ross is wrong here merely for having an opinion. How dares he criticize Gould? Doesn't he know that all opinions are individual and that we all have our preferences? Doesn't he like to live in this world of perfect gray where no shades of color are allowed and when everything is perfectly valid and equal to everything else, which really means that nothing really matters anymore?

[George]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3vpG1PgFF34&feature=related

Thanks a lot for that link.

[Marc]

[....] Imagine Vivaldi maintaining the same level of inspiration of his Opus 3 to every single one of his concertos, then add a more advanced use of harmony and you'll get Scarlatti. After Bach, he is the greatest composer for the harpsichord that ever lived. My opinion of course.

Not a bad description, IMHO.
Whether or not his music is as 'deep' as Bach's (and who am I to judge about that?), Scarlatti is always able to raise my spirit.

1685 was one happy year for music!
February 3rd 1959: the day the music died (according to Don McLean c.s.).
1685: the year the music was born (according to .... others).
And we're still able to listen to the compositions of Bach, Händel and Scarlatti. There must be something eternal about them.

[Josquin des Prez]

BTW, here's a mirror image of my Scarlatti collection which i ripped into my computer a while back:

http://rapidshare.com/files/255055494/Sonatas.rar.html

Through out the years i collected a lot of information regarding those sonatas, their estimate date of composition, the various type of influences, the form actually used in each sonata and so forth, which i added in the name of each file. Much of this is highly conjectural, and the work is far from being finished, but i think many of you might find this information valuable. I cropped each sonata by estimated year of composition, with the exception of the 30 esercizi, which were published as a single set so it's best to leave it that way. You can still see the estimated date of composition in the name of the file.  

The file structure works like this:

k.035 - Toccata in g, Allegro (3) (a. 1715; 1737) (Handel)

Catalog number, form if known, key, tempo, CD number in the Ross collection, estimated date of composition and date of actual manuscript, and recognizable influence if known.

[jochanaan]

...February 3rd 1959: the day the music died (according to Don McLean c.s.)...

Remind me (I don't have time to Google what Don McLean said, since I have no idea what, when, where or why he said it), what was the cause of death?

[The new erato]

Buddy Holly dies, as recounted in the Classic "American Pie".

[SonicMan46]

Buddy Holly dies, as recounted in the Classic "American Pie".

Well, I have no idea 'why' Buddy Holly's death year, i.e. 1959, was brought into this Scarlatti thread? 

BUT, since the story of American Pie was raised, then further discussion is warranted; the common belief is that the name of the plane (in which Buddy, Richie Valens, & the 'Big Bopper' lost their lives) was nicknamed the American Pie; however, this story is apparently not true - check THIS LINK, if interested.

Now, Don McLean apparently has not revealed the meaning of this 'LONG' song (which I do enjoy, and saw him perform in person years ago), so there may be no answer?  But, another part of this story concerns the several potential passengers who did NOT get on the plane that fatal night - one was Waylon Jennings, Holly's bass guitar player - would have ended a great 'country music' career yet to come!

[Marc]

Remind me (I don't have time to Google what Don McLean said, since I have no idea what, when, where or why he said it), what was the cause of death?

Three rock musicians died in an airplane crash: Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and 'The Big Bopper' J.P. Richardson jr. (as mentioned before).

The lyrics of Don McLean jumped into my mind immediately after my thoughts about the happy year of birth 1685 .... that's why I mentioned this awful event.

Didn't mean to ruin the Scarlatti thread, though. I guess it just happend because I'm an associative thinking person.

[Sean]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3vpG1PgFF34&feature=related

Straight like an arrow, with no artificial turns or twists of any kind, like God intended. Lots of harpsichord players are so obsessed with coming up with clever ways to spike the ornamentation that they sometimes forget the structure of the piece. The harpsichord works of Handel tend to suffer from this trend a lot.

I bought the Ross set and played it about eight times. It's highly recommendable, although only occasionally he does he find the last degree of fire and bite- as the Youtube video cited here shows. The regret is that Trevor Pinnock didn't do the survey, a musical personality suited to Scarlatti like no other.

[jochanaan]

Three rock musicians died in an airplane crash: Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and 'The Big Bopper' J.P. Richardson jr. (as mentioned before).

The lyrics of Don McLean jumped into my mind immediately after my thoughts about the happy year of birth 1685 .... that's why I mentioned this awful event.

Didn't mean to ruin the Scarlatti thread, though. I guess it just happend because I'm an associative thinking person.

Thanks!  And I think there's little need to worry about ruining a musical thread.  Music has shown an extraordinary ability to resurrect itself after its supposed death--rumors of which are usually greatly exaggerated.

[Marc]

Thanks! And I think there's little need to worry about ruining a musical thread. Music has shown an extraordinary ability to resurrect itself after its supposed death--rumors of which are usually greatly exaggerated.

Yes: keep the spirit high!

A Phoenix from the flame!!
(Another quatation .... but never mind. )

The first notes of the Horowitz 1986 recitals .... Scarlatti's K 380 in E major.
Horowitz in Moscow was my first piano vinyl LP. Still a treasure. Still available.

But unfortunately the Phoenix story doesn't go for everything. Not available anymore is my first 'entire' Scarlatti CD, produced by the Erasmus company of Wijnand van Hooff. Label got bankrupt .... etcetera.
Still a treasure though, this recital, in my private disc collection. A nice collection of 14 sonatas, played by Dutch pianist Peter van Leeuwen.

[George]

A Phoenix from the flame!!
(Another quatation .... but never mind. )

There is no other Troooooooy.  0:)

[Coopmv]

Here is a nice Scarlatti's CD by Horowitz that has been in my collection for a number of years ...