Complete Keyboard Sonatas 4

Scarlatti (Artist), Long (Artist) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (August 20, 2002)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Naxos
• ASIN: B00006B1KF
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #114,771 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The deeper sides of Domenico Scarlatti, March 19, 2005

By 

Steven Eldredge (New York, NY USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Complete Keyboard Sonatas 4 (Audio CD)

First off I want to say that this Naxos series of Scarlatti sonatas, each played by a different pianist, has been uniformly excellent. I would not hesitate to recommend any of the seven volumes (as of this writing) so far.

The CD in question, played by Beatrice Long is somewhat deceptive. My first impression was that it wasn't as brilliant as some of the others in the series. Much of that has to do with the fact that she has chosen for her program some of the slower, longer, more rhapsodic of the sonatas. Upon closer listening, however, I discovered a musician with a lot of imagination and fantasy, a beautiful sound, interesting ornamentation, and a firm grasp of Scarlatti's peculiarly Italian/Iberian sound world. I have found myself listening to this disc over and over recently, and I am always finding new little things in it to admire.

Eventually planned to number over 25 discs, the time to begin collecting this series is now, before the stack gets too high!

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Most Remarkable CD, November 18, 2003

By 

Albert E. Everett (Little Rock, AR United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Complete Keyboard Sonatas 4 (Audio CD)

Rhythm and transparency, with brilliance in the fingerwork, prevail. This CD (along with Horowitz, Pogorelich, and Andjaparidze, of course) should be the standard used in sorting out future pianists for the Naxos series. This is certainly Scalatti as it should be played.

I would like to enter some personal thoughts. The K4 somehow misses the quitar model which would require a quicker tempo and more flamenco color, The K107 evokes for me, on my piano, fantasies of the Arabian Nights with its beautifully perfumed elegance, soft drums, and measured moorishness. However difficult, the piece should be played gently with no sharp edges.

So, hats off to Beatrice Long! I would welcome her back for another CD in this series

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The loyal opposition, June 15, 2005

By 

Eloi (Ely, NV USA) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Complete Keyboard Sonatas 4 (Audio CD)

At first, Beatrice Long's performance seemed feckless, but after five more hearings, I think she shows why having a different performer for each of the albums in the Naxos complete Scarlatti sonatas series makes sense.

Another reviewer has noted that she chooses to play the more lyrical sonatas. Yeah, her K 132, especially the closing cadences, is sweet. But it's her whole approach that's lyrical, taking the time to present the classic rise-and-fall phrasing.

She's no wimp, though--the big arpeggiated chords in the second half of K 516 are not grandiose but grand (I like this sonata both ways!). She also shows a very different dimension to K 175. Most players really pound this out. Long stresses the textural contrast and makes me wonder if this might not have been a score The Great Farinelli showed Mozart back in their 1760s visit--I am thinking here of Köchel 310.

Long captures the weariness in K 99 in fine fashion, but some sonatas do not work with the lyrical approach. Long's version of K 519 can't compete with Pinnock or Pletnev, but nobody's perfect.

Long's album is a perfect counterbalance to the aggressive approach of Michael Lewin. These two volumes are the cream, the Yang and Yin of the Naxos series through vol. 7.