Customer Reviews

Antonio Soler: Harpsichord Sonatas

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As a collector, I am NOT given to developing "fan" attachments to certain performers, and thereafter unthinkingly snapping up their every recording as sort of a "rubber-stamp" guarantee of excellence. However, after buying Pieter-Jan Belder's Bach WTC and Rameau keyboard works, and now his first three volumes of Soler, this Dutch harpsichordist is fast becoming one of my favorites. As an interpreter, Belder is something of a chameleon. To Rameau he brought French wit and elegance, to Bach, serious-mindedness without unremitting heaviness or plodding. In re-traversing ground already traveled by his teacher, Van Asperen, Belder brings to Soler Spanish rhythmic swagger and flamenco passion, but also lyricism and playfulness, as the individual works require.

Those who have bought Ross's or Belder's sets of the Scarlatti sonatas surely will be familiar with Soler already. For those to whom this composer is new, Belder's Vol.I is an excellent and inexpensive way to get acquainted with this other great figure of the Baroque keyboard sonata--it seems to have been deliberately planned to include many of Soler's most familiar and popular works. Belder begins his series with the smoldering flamenco passion of the "Fandango." This quality is also present in many of the sonatas in this set--it is certainly present in Belder's performances.

Soler's keyboard writing is every bit as brilliant and resourceful as Scarlatti's, but with a more frequent admixture of Spanish folk vernacular. Scarlatti absorbed a good deal of Spanish idiom in the roughly 38 years he lived on the Iberian peninsula (both Portugal and Spain). However, he was, after all, a transplanted Italian, with a cosmopolitan career that included jobs in Poland and at the Vatican. Soler was a Spaniard--the folk-tunes of his national culture--gypsy, flamenco and Moorish traits, as well as those of his native Catalonia (a region that has produced so many of Spain's greatest composers)--were "in his blood."

The influence of Scarlatti is apparent in Soler's works--no surprise--the Spaniard studied with him for a few years. Thus, Soler is not afraid of novel effects--chains of arpeggios inspired by gypsy guitarists (with the typically "flamenco" chord progression of tonic major/subdominant minor prominent--particularly in the hypnotic "Fandango"), tone clusters (probably intended to simulate the percussive cross-string effects available on the guitar), and abrupt changes of key. His choice of keys is a little more adventurous than Scarlatti's--he does not shrink from writing in D-flat, or F-sharp (both major and minor). Yet this fiery side is not the whole of him--he is just as often pensively lyrical, and even flirtatious. If one likes Scarlatti, it is definitely worth getting to know Soler.

Those who own Asperen's set may be curious to know how Belder's stacks up against his teacher's. So far, the first three volumes of Belder's series are every bit as fine as anything in Asperen's, and there's no reason to expect any letdown in subsequent releases. If I notice any differences, it may be that Asperen's sound is a little bright, and Belder employs a slightly more free and expressive rubato in the slower sonatas, but this is nit-picking. Having heard both, I may have a slight preference for Belder, but no one who owns Asperen's set should feel the need to throw it out and get Belder's. On the other hand, if one is especially fond of Soler, having both would be a delightful embarrassment of riches.

Asperen's complete set came with a booklet of thorough and scholarly documentation, whereas the notes for Belder's series, although informative, are not nearly so thorough. On Asperen's CD's each piece is banded separately, whereas Belder's combine multi-movement sonatas into single large tracks, so it is more difficult to access particular movements. Neither set presents the sonatas in Rubio's numerical order. True, the Rubio catalog is not chronological, but numerical order would make it easier to find a particular sonata on the discs (in such cases I make little word-processed "index" leaflets and tuck them inside the sets).

Asperen's set occupies 12 CD's. So far, Belder's discs are mostly 10 minutes shorter in duration than Asperen's, so I presume his set might take as many as 14 CD's. Will Belder include the Preludes on Asperen's Vol.12?

Asperen's complete set is OOP, although as of this writing, most of the separate volumes are still available on AMAZON--often at astronomical prices. Belder's is much cheaper and much more easily available--highly recommended--I eagerly await the completion of the series.

Other volumes in this series:
Vol.II Soler: Harpsichord Sonatas, vol. 2
Vol.III Keyboard Sonatas 3