Scarlatti - Keyboard Sonatas [Schiff]And yet again another Composer making his debut in my Blog, i just can't stand this music on harpsichord, but a clever Pianist that can transcribe these works with aplomb is very welcome, i must admit that Scarlatti isn't anywhere near a favourite Composer, just an acquaintance really, but it was good to delve into these short works.
Andras Schiff is Hungarian, born in 1953, the repertoire he plays is pretty extensive, he made this recording in 1987, the booklet cover photo [by Hanya Chlala] is a wonderful black and white study, hands inventively posed, and that lovely light and shadow!, brings a great focus onto the eyes, the logo gives a great sense of colour, i really like it a lot.
Scarlatti wrote over 500 Keyboard Sonatas, and how anyone can truly get to know them all makes the mind boggle, most discs are a recital of a selection of them, on this listen the Sonata i enjoyed the most was K115 [track 6], it's in C Minor, so there's a degree of sour dissonance, and it's near the beginning that the music has a more sweeter episode after the opening storm [0:37-0:58], with lovely delicate treble notes, sounding cannily like mimicking a harpsichord, when the troublesome opening returns again [1:27+], Schiff brings an extra slight degree of anger to it, there's a middle section which is agitated in nature [2:54-3:16], mid keyboard trills, and repeated later with great effect [4:58-5:19], themes and tunes keep coming round again and again in a merry-go-round carnival, well i'm not some Scarlatti devotee yet!, but i did enjoy this disc, and i want to explore this Composer some more.
