Domenico Scarlatti: Complete Keyboard Sonatas, Vol. 6

Editorial Reviews
Album Description
The son of Alessandro Scarlatti, who created a new school of opera in Naples, Domenico Scarlatti is particularly renowned for his remarkable keyboard sonatas, of which some 555 are known. This significant addition to early 18th century keyboard repertoire was written for performance on the various keyboard instruments of the Spanish court, where Scarlatti was employed for many years. In all their variety the sonatas have long provided a valuable repertoire for pianists.

Tracks:

Sonata in E Major, K. 135/L. 224/P. 234
Sonata in A major, K. 429/L. 132/P. 132
Sonata in D major, K. 478/L. 12/P. 503
Sonata in G major, K. 169/L. 331/P. 247
Sonata in G major, K. 259/L. 103/ P. 463
Sonata in C major, K. 502/L. 3/P. 408
Sonata in F major, K. 419/L. 279/ P. 524
Sonata in F minor, K. 19/L. 383/ P. 75
Sonata in B flat major, K. 112/L. 298/P. 94
Sonata in E flat major, K. 123/L. 111/P. 180
Sonata in F major, K. 274/L. 297/P. 491
Sonata in A major, K. 405/L. 43/P. 438
Sonata in F sharp major, K. 318/L. 31/P. 302
Sonata in F in sharp minor, K. 67/L. 32/P. 125
Sonata in C sharp minor, K. 247/L. 256/P. 297
Sonata in G major, K. 63/L. 84/P. 32

Album Description

The son of Alessandro Scarlatti, who created a new school of opera in Naples, Domenico Scarlatti is particularly renowned for his remarkable keyboard sonatas, of which some 555 are known. This significant addition to early 18th century keyboard repertoire was written for performance on the various keyboard instruments of the Spanish court, where Scarlatti was employed for many years. In all their variety the sonatas have long provided a valuable repertoire for pianists.

Customer Reviews:

Evgeny Zarafiant's Passion For Scarlatti.......2006-03-10

As a pianist myself (I've been teaching for over 24 years since graduating from music school), I always enjoy hearing how others interpret music at the piano. I've recently been spending some extra time with Scarlatti myself (and reading Ralph Kirkpatrick's book on Dominico Scarlatti) and have been also listening to a lot of different pianists play this vast repertoire that we have been fortunate to be blessed with.

I recently got this CD and was really pleasently surprised. With Naxos, sometimes you get some really outstanding performances and sometimes you can get some more dry and mediocre ones. For example, the early Jeno Jando Beethoven are functional recordings but not very inspired (he himself said he'd love to re-record those now that he's a more mature artist). In fact, the Jando Scarlatti I have heard is very mechanical and lacking in soul. I do love his Haydn recordings though, I have just about the whole collection and love the way he approaches that music.

That all being said :)

This recording by Evgeny Zarafiant of these various Scarlatti Sonatas has a tremendous amount of passion and colour. He makes no apology for playing them on a modern instrument and really utilizes all the shades of expression available on the piano.

There are times where perhaps he goes slower than I like (compared to other recordings of some of the sonatas), but overall I really love the way he makes these pieces his own. If you are looking for a purist "performance practice" recording this probably won't do it for you, but if you want to hear a pianist with a vision of his own in this music then you will probably really enjoy what he brings to the table.

I look forward to hearing more CD's by this fine pianist.

Evgeny Zarafiants Plays Scarlatti Sonatas.......2005-04-22

In their gaiety, lyricism, lightness, and eccentricity, the 550-odd keyboard sonatas of Domenico Scarlatti (1685-1757) are among the joys of music. Scarlatti composed them during his old age while in the service of the royal family of Spain and Portugal.

There have been complete recordings of the sonatas on the harpsichord (by Scott Ross and Fernando Valenti), but this CD is part of a project on the Naxos label to record the sonatas in their entirety for the piano. (I don't think there is an earlier complete set of the sonatas on the piano.) Each CD is performed by a different pianist, and each sells at a budget price. The series will probably be of most interest to those listeners who already know Scarlatti and want to explore his music in detail.

This CD volume 6 in the Naxos series is performed by the Russian pianist, Evgeny Zarafiants. I wasn't familiar with Mr. Zarafiants before, but I know he has recorded works by Scriabin for Naxos. The disk includes 16 sonatas of widely varying types such as long, slow lyrical sonatas, (the sonata in D major, K.478), and lively, short virtuosic pieces (the sonata in F sharp minor, K.67 and the sonata in B flat major, K. 112.) The CD exemplifies many aspects of Scarlatti's art: the trills and ornamentation, the repeated notes, dance-like melodies, guitar-like strumming, showy passages played cross-handed, sudden changes of mood, and much more.

It is valuable to follow the Naxos series and to hear the manner in which different performers interpret Scarlatti. Zarafiants's readings make use of the full characteristics of the piano; he makes no attempt at imitating the musical idiom of the harpsichord. Thus, he plays with full tone and use of the pedal and with great dynamic variety. He plays with a marked stacatto in those sonatas with repeated notes and with a much softer, lyrical touch in the longer, meditative works. He changes tempos frequently within a single work and changes moods and styles effectively. He plays with imagination and versatility. It is an effective way to hear Scarlatti on the piano.

Some of the works on this CD I particularly enjoyed are the opening sonata in E major, K. 135, a quirky work with many changes in moods and dynamics and with trills, the sonata in C major, K.502, a broad work full of octaves and trills, the sonata in F major, K.419, a light,lyrical work which works down from the upper register of the instrument, and the sonata in E flat major, K. 123, a virtuosic piece with a loud opening followed by runs and ornaments with contrasting legato and stacatto passages. This is the sort of disk in which I found different works that appealed at each hearing.

Music-lovers who want to explore Scarlatti's sonatas in detail (and who are comfortable hearing these works on the piano) will enjoy this CD and its companions in the Naxos series.

Hate it!.......2005-03-15

Zarafiants started K 135 in lilting style and I thought I was in for a treat. But about halfway through the first section, crazy sped-up passages destroyed the rhythm of the whole. Such tempo variations occurred in nearly every sonata in the album. And this guy doesn't know what "andante" means. The reason K 478 is over 11 minutes long is that he plays it "lento."--when you can hear it at all (either this recording is defective or else Z thinks we just don't need bass notes at several points). K 478 is also marred by micro-phrasing that is often expressed through tempo changes (but always painfully slow). There is no sense of line like the great Russian pianists of the past were famous for.

The best piece on the disc is K 67, a zippy little number in 2-part invention style that reminded me of the little keyboard piece known variously as "Sofeggietto" and "Vocalise" by C.P.E.
Bach. And K 247 was less distorted and more coherent than the others. OK, that's 2 out of 16. If you want to hear Scarlatti well-played on the piano, I recommend vols. 2 and 3 of this series or Pogorelich. Zarafiants might be worth listening to in Schumann or Medtner or like that, but his disregard of anything like a steady beat just doesn't suit Scarlatti.

Sylph-like Scarlatti........2003-12-17

What a variety of approaches keyboard players bring to the performing of Scarlatti`s sonatas! A bonfire or a fireworks display might typify some of them (including those of several famous harpsichordists). Russian pianist Evgeny Zarafiants favors a more sylph-like, languid approach. K 419 in F sounds droopy here, and the fine gossamer of K 112 in Bb floats loosely.

Repeats are observed, according to the policy adopted for this on-going complete Naxos series. K 478, one of the few Scarlatti's sonatas marked "andante e cantabile", thus extends for more than eleven minutes as played here. K502 in C is made to sound more robust than other sontas in this selection. Has anyone noticed how the first half of this sonata seems to borrow themes from Handel's "Water Music"?

Zarafiants' Scarlatti recital might not be my favorite in this Naxos series so far, but it is a well-filled CD and contains some less familiar items.

Poetic Scarlatti.......2003-11-19

I will yield to no one in my admiration for Scarlatti's piano sonatas (he modestly called them 'Essercizi' ['Exercises']), have played many of them at the piano, and have many, many recordings of them, including the complete set done by harpsichordist Scott Ross, before his too-early death. Naxos is slowly issuing a series that will eventually comprise all 555 sonatas, and each issue features a different pianist. Evgeny Zarafiants is a pianist previously unknown to me. I see that he has previously made a couple of CDs of Scriabin préludes, but I've not heard them. On the basis of this issue, though, I'd guess that his Scriabin would be good. I say that because this is pretty romantic-sounding Scarlatti. I'm no purist in these matters, though--if I were, I'd insist the sonatas be played only on harpsichord--and after my initial mild shock at the approach, I came to really enjoy these performances. Just listen, for instance, to the Sonata in D, K. 478. It is one of the slow ones--this performance takes over eleven minutes!--and has always, I will admit, been just a little bit boring for me. In Zarafiants' hands it becomes a musing but intense cavatina which I have returned to at least ten times since I got the CD. It is a mesmerizing performance, like that of a great actor doing a Shakespearean soliloquy. Within the fairly narrow range of soft dynamics, he shapes the sonata's melodic phrases as a great bel canto singer might. And thus this sonata becomes a gently pulsing aria of melancholy and resignation.

For many people it is Scarlatti's quick, virtuosic sonatas that are most attractive, with their pearly runs, Spanish or Italian rhythms, crisp repeated notes and tricky cross-hand passages. Mr Zarafiants' talents don't let us down here, either. In the Sonata in C, K. 502, for instance, there is fire and humor. In this sonata Scarlatti uses one of his characteristic devices, quick switches between 3/8 and 2/4; these are pointed up wittily by Mr Zarafiants. Delicious.

The sonatas on this disc are, by and large, not the most familiar ones, although the canonic Sonata in F major, K. 274, the virtuosic Sonata in F Sharp Minor, K. 318, and the quietly sad Sonata in C Sharp Minor, K. 247, are here. This mix makes for a constantly engaging, and sometimes surprising, disc.

Good work, Evgeny Zarafiants. I want more!

Sound, as one comes to expect from Naxos' piano recordings, is exemplary, as are the very helpful notes by Keith Anderson.

TT=77:32

Tracks:

Allegro
Allegro
Andante
Allegro
Allegro
Allegro
Andante
Allegro
Andante
Allegro
Pastorale, Allegro
Presto
Allegro
Vivo
Moderato
Minuet

Customer Reviews:

can't get it out of my head.......2006-11-12

The album subtitle--"The Harmonic Research"--is a misnomer. Out-there sonatas like K 547 with its amazing string of parallel seventh chords or K 215 with inexplicable dissonance are missing. But it's still a 5-star effort due to the performer, Marco Farolfi.

Anyone who has been bored by the automatic and unvaried repeats in these sonatas featured in most of the Naxos series will appreciate the way Farolfi varies repeated sections. The first sonata of this album, K 252, is a good example. Farolfi goes beyond ornamentation to the point of recomposition, and some will hate it. But he does play it straight the first time through.

An even better example--and the tune I can't get out of my head--is K 416 in D major. This sonata is like K 461 in C, only more so. That is, the outer sections are even more cryptic and brief, and the middle section (it's not a binary, but ternary structure) is a haunting contrapuntal journey. I've played this sonata myself but never saw half of the lines that Farolfi brings out, and they are different lines on each repetition. Yeah, I dissed Scarlatti's so-called "fugues" in my last review, but K 416 shows that Scarlatti knew how to use counterpoint to wring out your soul. And the parallel 5ths in m 73-75 may even qualify as harmonic research--Brahms copied out such passages in Scarlatti for his own study.

Another amazing effort is K 448 in f-sharp minor. This sonata has a more complicated thematic structure than K 416, and Farolfi understands that the bass line he brings out in m 31-37 does not work in the second half. But any way you hear it, this is a masterpiece of driving Spanish dance rhythm and a sonata missing from the "canon" of Scarlatti sonatas.

There's a down side, though. In almost all the sonatas played on harpsichord there is a very annoying clacking sound due to what I'm guessing are too-wide slots in the jack-guidence rail. Or whatever. In any other recording, I'd lower my rating by at least a star, but Farolfi's performance is just too fine to miss.[...]

Enjoy Scarlatti at his best!.......2005-08-02

Listening to Scarlatti's experimental music on this exceptional CD will let you feel immersed in the refined and lively atmosphere of early 18th century Europe. A unique experience.

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