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Hello everyone.
I'm doing an exam in about a year, and I'm to start practicing round about now. I've been given mostly free reign from my teacher (I've no lessons for the summer, so I learn or make a start on my pieces round about now), and one of the options of the exam is to play two contrasting Scarlatti sonatas - any two whatsoever. Though thats within reason - I don't think they can't be too easy, considering this is my final exam. (To give any idea of difficulty, other pieces up are Rach Prelude in C sharp minor, Ravel Sonatine mvt 1 and Debussy Bruyeres - if anyones curious, full list is here http://shorttext.com/ccv20t7s0lt)
So yeah. Does anyone have any suggestions on any two contrasting, moderately difficult sonataas by Scarlatti? I have my eye on K. 141 in D minor, the sheet music looks fairly do-able, but I haven't found much info on it.
All and any suggestions are welcome and appreciated.

EDIT: I have choice besides this to choose any prelude and fugue by Bach, though I feel that theres more choice with two of Scarlattis. If anyone wants to suggest any difficult-ish P&F from the WTC, feel free...

Sometimes more choices is a bad thing. It's really hard to recommend Scarlatti sonatas because there are SO many of them, I wouldn't even know where to start. (I'll just leave that up to other people who know them better). However, if you decide to go with Bach, I think most, if not all the preludes and fugues are pretty hard (probably don't go with c major book I because everyone plays the prelude from it). What I do when I pick one is just go through and listen to them all and pick one that stands out to me.

Well, I know them better .....and I don't know where to start either.

You're right.

I think the best advice for Sean-Patrick is to look through a bunch of them, and pick a couple that he likes and that seem do-able.

Hi Sean,
Try K208 and K209, both are in A major. Judging from your pieces' standard, that would fit.

Have you ever listened to or attempted 141? It's more than moderately difficult.

Here is the best rendering I've yet heard from any pianist.

Yes -- I didn't know offhand which one that was, and didn't check.
IMO it's up there with the very most difficult.

It's funny what pieces people sometimes say aren't hard....

Yeah, especially Baroque and Classical era works!

Dunno, I'm still reeling from people saying Chopin's F minor Fantaisie isn't that hard.....

BTW, in fairness to Sean-Patrick....I shouldn't have put it that way in the other post, because he didn't really say this D minor sonata isn't that hard, just that it seems "fairly doable."

P.S. to Sean-Patrick: Just noticed your "P.S." -- If you can pick a Prelude & Fugue by Bach, I don't think you have to worry about it being "difficult-ish," because they're all at least difficult-ish. Any of them are full opportunities to show what you can do. I think the best suggestion might be for you to see if there's one that really grabs you, and you're done.
Except for the hard part, which is actually learning it.

Oh, I see. Yeah, that's a hard piece... I heard someone say that Mozart concerti are just beginner's concerti for those who aren't ready for the Romantic and 20th century ones.

And that person is a teacher. Scary.

+1

When someone says something like that about Mozart, you know they have a lot to learn.

I mean, we all do. But they have more.

P.S. The one time I had a chance to play a concerto, and to pick whatever one I wanted, the ones I really wanted to play were Mozart. I decided they were too hard. So I picked the Emperor Concerto instead.
It was the right decision.

Oh gosh, if I could pick whatever I wanted... It would probably be Brahms 1, but if not that, I most definitely would try to do Mozart.

Sorry for going off topic too much... Sorry for low quality, and I think I identified them incorrectly (so someone who knows them better please correct me), but how about these?

F minor from Book II. No reason except that I have chosen to learn it for my next exam, and I liked it most from the list I had to choose from. Don't know whether it's hard enough for your purposes. I am enjoying it so far.

Can't help you with the Scarlatti, don't know any. It's much easier to choose when the list is narrowed down a bit. I feel exhausted choosing from only 8 or so pieces!

If you have to memorize them, go with Scarlatti over Bach since some of those preludes and fugues are nightmares to commit to memory

There are a few Scarlatti Sonatas which are not in binary form, like the Cat's Fugue, so including one of those would automatically provide contrast.

P.S. I'm going to suggest a particular P & F even though I usually hate doing that kind of thing.

I'm doing it not just because I think it could fit your bill but (mainly) because it's a great piece that doesn't get much discussion here, at least not that I've noticed. (Maybe I just don't know where to look!)

D minor, Book I.
Prelude is challenging but not one of the very most difficult, and the Fugue is (IMO) especially beautiful and almost "Romantic," very forward-looking in its character, and a definite contrast to the Prelude.

The D minor is beautiful, I heartily agree.

As far as Scarlatti, I might take a listen to K531 and 380 (both in E major) and also 427 in G major. Really sound like fun to play, and certainly not the easiest things in the world.

Scarlatti is so much fun, just in general.

D minor Book I is the one that I wished I was learning, when it was too late to change from the C min bookI that I committed to for my last exam. I listened to it a lot, and played through a little. I decided the LH passage work in the Cmin is what I most needed to develop my fingers. I'm a fan of the Dmin and it seems to be one of the well known ones, especially the prelude. I probably discovered is here on PW!

Apologies to Alden, Canonie, and everybody....I blew it! I meant Book 2!!!!

But yeah, we might say the same about the D minor of Book 1!

I was going to say something... I was wondering why you said they were underplayed. Now it makes sense.

You could have said "the one with the winding, sinuous fugue theme", but that actually wouldn't have narrowed it down between the two.

-J

BTW I didn't say underplayed, I said under-discussed!