Scarlatti 141

This is the second volume of Music & Arts' complete Scarlatti project performed by Carlo Grante. New Classics [UK] wrote of that release: Scarlatti's 555 keyboard sonatas are single movements, mostly in binary form…. Some of them display harmonic audacity in their use of discords, and also unconventional modulations to remote keys.

This is the second volume of Music & Arts' complete Scarlatti project performed by Carlo Grante. New Classics [UK] wrote of that release: Scarlatti's 555 keyboard sonatas are single movements, mostly in binary form…. Some of them display harmonic audacity in their use of discords, and also unconventional modulations to remote keys.

There are few musical resources as sparkling as the 555 harpsichord sonatas of Domenico Scarlatti. Few of them were published in his lifetime and some are more famous than others, but once one gets into the thick of them it is amazing how consistently high the level of invention is. Much of their distinctive character stems from Scarlatti's long residency at the Spanish court; the local color is felt through the energetic rhythms of popular dance forms and the harpsichord's imitation of the guitar and castanets. Indeed, though written under royal patronage, this is very much music of a people, their folklore and customs.

Ross's playing is fully worthy: he is lively, technically assured, rhythmically resilient and, above all, he conveys his enjoyment of the music, without eccentricity.