Richard Lester - Scarlatti: Highlights from the Complete Sonatas (2008)

Tracklist

01. Keyboard Sonata in A Major, K. 24
02. Keyboard Sonata in D Minor, K. 141
03. Keyboard Sonata In G Major, K. 124
04. Keyboard Sonata in B Minor, K. 27
05. Keyboard Sonata in D Major, K. 511
06. Keyboard Sonata in D Minor, K. 513
07. Keyboard Sonata in C Major, K. 515
08. Keyboard Sonata in D Minor, K. 516
09. Keyboard Sonata in D Minor, K. 517
10. Keyboard Sonata in G Major, K. 523
11. Keyboard Sonata in E Major, K. 380
12. Keyboard Sonata in B Minor, K. 87
13. Keyboard Sonata in G Major, K. 125
14. Keyboard Sonata in G Major, K. 432
15. Keyboard Sonata in A Major, K. 429
16. Keyboard Sonata in D Major, K. 430
17. Keyboard Sonata in B-Flat Major, K. 441
18. Keyboard Sonata in F-Sharp Minor, K. 447
19. Keyboard Sonata in G Major, K. 314
20. Keyboard Sonata in E-Flat Major, K. 370
21. Keyboard Sonata in D Major, K. 122
22. Keyboard Sonata in G Major, K. 123
23. Keyboard Sonata in C Minor, K. 126
24. Keyboard Sonata in E Major, K. 134
25. Keyboard Sonata in C Major, K. 251
26. Keyboard Sonata in D Major, K. 137
27. Keyboard Sonata in G Major, K. 455
28. Keyboard Sonata in C Major, K. 460
29. Keyboard Sonata in C Major, K. 461
30. Keyboard Sonata in D Major, K. 145
31. Keyboard Sonata in G major, K. 146
32. Keyboard Sonata in D Major, K. 147
33. Keyboard Sonata in C Minor, K. 56
34. Keyboard Sonata in D Minor, K. 9
35. Keyboard Sonata in D Major, K. 33
36. Keyboard Sonata in B-Flat Major, K. 202
37. Keyboard Sonata in D Minor, K. 434
38. Keyboard Sonata in G Major, K. 260
39. Keyboard Sonata in E Major, K. 206
40. Keyboard Sonata in D Major, K. 415
41. Keyboard Sonata in F Major, K. 205
42. Keyboard Sonata in D Major, K. 333
43. Keyboard Sonata in F Minor, K. 239
44. Keyboard Sonata in G Major, K. 520
45. Keyboard Sonata in D Major, K. 490
46. Keyboard Sonata in D Major, K. 491
47. Keyboard Sonata in D Major, K. 492
48. Keyboard Sonata in B-Flat Major, K. 57

This two-CD set is a sampler drawn from the set of complete Domenico Scarlatti keyboard sonatas recorded by Richard Lester between 2000 and 2005 and issued in seven volumes. If a full series is executed with care, the listener wanting a sample is often better off choosing a single volume from the series rather than the official sampler, but this one is the exception. It's unusual in several respects. First of all, it was chosen by the performer himself, not by the label. And Lester has taken a delightfully innovative approach to the selection. He had two criteria. One is expected: he chooses sonatas that highlight his particular interpretive emphases. Most important among these are the Spanish features in Scarlatti's sonatas, which many keyboardists skate over but which in Lester's hands could almost accompany a modern flamenco dancer, and the potentially pianistic features: Lester's set has used a variety of instruments he considers appropriate to the music, and four sonatas here are played on a fortepiano. (Here he uses an instrument modeled on one of Mozart's era, arguing that there is no extant Scarlatti fortepiano, but there are in fact still earlier fortepianos that might have been used.) Lester's second criterion is more unusual: he takes this opportunity to make a nod to his keyboardist predecessors, including favorite sonatas of Fernando Valenti, George Malcolm, Valda Aveling, and the grandmother of us all who enjoy Scarlatti, Wanda Landowska. This selection of pieces becomes not only a hat tip but an indication of the various ways Scarlatti has been approached down through the years. Highly recommended for any basic Baroque collection.