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My primary musical goal over the holiday's was to listen to Scarlatti. Of course I am familiar with his music but I never spent the time to truly appreciate the scope and depth of his works, until now. I spent hours listening to dozens of his sonatas (many several times) and have now truly come to appreciate his genius. Great stuff. I particularly liked the performances of Pletnev, Horowitz, Pogorelich and Yuja Wang (but then again I love everthing Yuja plays).
I developed a list of favorites and will be learning them in the coming months. And I still have many sonatas to listen to!
In any case, for those of you who play Scarlatti, what are some of your favorites? I would love to check them out.
For toccata-like brilliance, there's the D minor Kk141; for beauty, the B minor Kk27; for Spanish guitar fun, the E major Kk380; another E major beauty is Kk531.
Regarding Scarlatti -- some have said that time is better spent on Bach, but I think Scarlatti holds a world of joy and challenge that is - almost - approachable with limited skills. Scarlatti's music is perhaps some of the most under-appreciated or, at least, under-exposed music which contains an omnipresent joie de vivre not found with any other composer I can think of.
In the right hands I'm a sucker for Scarlatti, and Horowitz, Gilels and Tipo top my list of Scarlatti interpreters.
Regarding Scarlatti -- some have said that time is better spent on Bach....
Of course we need both!
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....but I think Scarlatti holds a world of joy and challenge that is - almost - approachable with limited skills....
Musically, yes. Pianistically, IMO absolutely not, unless we're talking only about the "slow" pieces. Let me say this: At amateur competitions, unless we're not 'really' amateurs we die a lot faster with Scarlatti than with Bach! Scarlatti shows our pianistic imperfections quicker and more starkly than almost any other composer, maybe absolutely any other besides Mozart, maybe even more so.
Originally Posted by sophial
Horowitz is unsurpassed in Scarlatti....
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I've loved some of Martha Argerich's Scarlatti as well.
One of my favorites (and yes, I've sort of died with this in amateur competitions):
It's one of the ones that has both a great "slow" part and a great "fast" part, with them alternating. A real gem! -- but then we could probably say that about another 500.
Some of my favorite Scarlatti recordings are on instruments other than piano....or harpsichord either. Like, guitar or (especially) synthesizer. I tried to find an online recording of something from the early LP, "The Well Tempered Synthesizer," by Walter/Wendy Carlos, which has splendid renditions of (I think) 4 Scarlatti sonatas. Couldn't find that, but here's a sample from someone else's very good attempt at a rendition along the same line (on one of the same sonatas that Carlos did):
(Sorry that there's stuff before the music. It starts at 0:25.)
I recall once reading that Chopin had a particular fondness toward Scarlatti. I did some research and found this quote:
Frederic Chopin, as a piano teacher, notably worte: "Those of my dear colleagues who teach the piano are unhappy that I make my own pupils work on Scarlatti. But I am surprised that they are so blinkered. His music contains finger exercises aplenty and more than a touch of the most elevated spirituality. Sometimes he is even a match for Mozart. If I were not afraid of incurring the disapprobation of numerous fools, I would play Scarlatti at my concerts. I maintain that the day will come when Scarlatti's music will often be played at concerts and that audiences will appreciate and enjoy."
Well, I'm not sure how true the quote is but I think it underscores Scarlatti's brillance.
I've listened to a lot of Scarlatti but I'd guess I've only heard 50-100 of his Sonatas since certain ones tend to get most of the coverage. So I've heard only 10-20% of his Sonatas. Imagine if one said that about Beethoven or Mozart.
I've read through and listened to a considerable amount of Scarlatti (and I've still probably only covered 10% of them :D) and I've found quite a few pieces that I wish would be played more commonly, rather than some of his other Sonatas: K. 46 (L. 25) k. 105 (L. 204) K. 116 (L. 452) K. 119 (L. 415) K. 132 (L. 457)
Scarlatti is one of my favorite baroque composers. My favourite performers are Horowitz, Pogorelich, Anne Queffelec, Mikhail Pletnev, Inger Södergren and above all Maria Tipo (a truly underrated pianist).
The only one she has played in public, or at least to the best of my knowledge.
Argerich's repertoire is supposedly HUGE, but relatively little of it seems to see the light of day. There are reports of her blazing through the Liszt 'Mephisto' at parties, but I cannot trace any live performances. I should not be surprised if she plays many more Scarlatti sonatas than the one treasure we have.
I have loved Scarlatti since a boy, his music is infinitely fascinating to me. Adding up my recordings, those I have heard in concert, the few I played, and many more that I sightread through, I'm barely running 40 of the total.
One can only imagine the riches I must be missing out on. I think they're like the Haydn string quartets and piano trios: I have only heard a few of those, but every instance had something unique to communicate. Too much music, so little time.
Maria Tipo may be underrated, but I remember back in the 70s two discs (LPs) of her Scarlatti were released by Ricordi, and the classical reviewer for Time thought they were the best piano records of the year. Unfortunately, the reviewer had virtually no knowledge of Italian, and translated "Dischi Ricordi" as "Dischi Records." The few people I knew who were traveling to Italy at that time were unable to locate the records because of that, and it was years before I found them. It was worth the wait; she definitely has her own voice that comes through in the music.
There is no end of learning. -Robert Schumann Rules for Young Musicians
