The leading classical music label, Naxos, undertook recording the complete keyboard sonatas of Italian Baroque composer Domenico Scarlatti beginning with the release of Scarlatti: Complete Keyboard Sonatas, Vol. 1 (Eteri Andjaparidze, piano) in 1999. Since then, seven more of a projected 35 volumes have been released. This piano music is easily accessible and enjoyable by listeners of all levels. As an introduction to a series of reviews of the Naxos releases in this collection, I wanted to provide a brief introduction to Scarlatti and the modern interpretations of his music.
Giuseppe Domenico Scarlatti (October 26, 1685 – July 23, 1757) was born in Naples, the sixth of ten children of Baroque composer Alessandro Scarlatti and Antonia Anzalone. While sharing a birth year with two other notable Baroque composers, Johann Sebastian Bach and George Frederic Handel, Scarlatti’s unique compositional vision rested on the apex of the Baroque period giving way to the Classical period.
Scarlatti was thought to have had is early training at the hand of his famous father. During his early life into his adulthood, Scarlatti traveled widely, spending time in Florence, where he met keyboard maker Bartolomeo Cristofori, who was then experimenting with transforming keyboard playing from the plucked-action harpsichord to the hammer action of his gravicembalo col piano e forte. He visited Rome and then Venice, where Scarlatti met the famous castratos Nicolo Grimaldi and Farinelli (Carlo Broschi) (the latter who has provided through his letters the lion’s share of what is known about Scarlatti’s adult life) and also made the acquaintances of composers Gasparini, Vivaldi, and Handel.
This meeting with Handel was fortuitous as it led to a later anecdotal meeting of the two musicians resulting in a "contest of virtuosity" where Handel was to have bested Scarlatti at the organ while Scarlatti bested Handel on the harpsichord. Whether spurious or true, the story makes for great drama and the consideration of such a concentration of genius in Venice in the 18th Century.
![Scarlatti: The Keyboard Sonatas [Box Set]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51GAX2STH7L._SL120_.jpg)
Article comments
1 - VICTOR STEVENS
THERE ARE TWO OTHER PIANISTS OF THE HOROWITZ GENERATION WHO WERE NOTABLE SCARLATTI INTERPRETERS AND WHO OFTEN INCLUDED A SELECTION OF THE SONATAS IN THEIR PROGRAMMES : MICHELANGELI AND EMIL GILELS. DINU LIPATTI, TOO, WAS A FINE SCARLATTI INTERPRETER. ALSO TO BE MENTIONED, AMONG CONTEMPORARY PIANISTS, IS MURRAY PERAHIA.
2 - C. Michael Bailey
Victor: You are so very correct. Michelangeli's Scarlatti is very well respected are Gilels and Lipatti's. As for Murray Perahia, I very well froth over his "Handel/Scarlatti: 3 Suites/Chaconne/7 Sonatas" (Sony, 1997); it is one of my five favorite piano recordings.
I suspect that I erred in including only those pianists in my collection who devoted entire discs to Scarlatti.
3 - Mark Berry
Volume 7 of the Naxos series was very well reviewed; I think most would regard it as the best of the set yet. There's a good review on ClassicsToday.com of it.