Domenico Scarlatti: Complete Keyboard Sonatas, Vol. 7

Domenico Scarlatti (Composer), Konstantin Scherbakov (Performer) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Performer: Konstantin Scherbakov
• Composer: Domenico Scarlatti
• Audio CD (February 22, 2005)
• SPARS Code: DDD
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Naxos
• ASIN: B0006IGPYQ
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #198,533 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Konstantin Scherbakov Plays Scarlatti Sonatas, April 13, 2005

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Robin Friedman (Washington, D.C. United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Domenico Scarlatti: Complete Keyboard Sonatas, Vol. 7 (Audio CD)

Over the last 25 years of his long life, Domenico Scarlatti (1685--1757) composed over 550 short sonatas for keyboard (harpsichord) to the delight of innumerable music lovers since his time. Naxos is in the process of issuing a set of the complete Scarlatti sonatas on the piano, with each the works on each CD performed by a different pianist. (Most of the pianists, to date, are not specialists in early music.) I will always prefer this music on the harpsichord although I play Scarlatti myself on the piano. Naxos's approach has the virtue of allowing the listener to hear a great many different musical approaches to Scarlatti. In addition, because each CD is part of a projected complete set of the sonatas, they feature a mix of works, rather than the handful of pieces that tend to get selected for anthologies. There is a great deal of music to be explored even by those familiar with Scarlatti. These works are a never-ending source of joy.

Volume 7 of the Naxos series features the young Russian pianist, Konstantin Scherbakov. Sherbakov's considerable recorded output includes performances on Liszt's transcriptions of Beethoven symphonies and of the music of Godowsky. But to me he is best-known for his excellent performance of Shostakovich's "24 Preludes and Fugues" opus 87 which I reviewed on this site some time ago. I described his playing there as "quiet, restrained and thoughtful" -- a feeling shared by most of the Amazon reviewers, and I think this description fits his performance of Scarlatti on this CD as well.

Scherbakov's playing seems subdued and introspective on this disk with little of the showiness that Scarlatti's music frequently invites. His playing is romantic in character and in tempo and in its use of the pedal. Scherbakov uses to the full the dynamics of the piano (which are unavailable on the harpsichord) and the tone of the instrument. His phrasing is distinct as between smooth legato passages and stacatto passages. As my good Amazon friend, Scott Morrison points out, Scherbakov uses a very controlled touch on these pieces with the left hand frequently playing noticeably softer than the right. (Listen to tracks 3 and 5 for examples.)

This CD consists of 16 sonatas. Unlike other CD's in this series I have heard, most of the works were unfamiliar to me. Becoming familiar with the range of his works is one of the pleasures of listening to Scarlatti. The works included tend to come from the softer, more lyrical side of Scarlatti without pyrotechnics. Of the sixteen sonatas, only three are in a minor key. The sonatas range from the early sonata in F major, K. 17 to the late sonata in F major K. 542, but most of the works tend to be in the K. 2,3, or 4 hundreds.

I enjoyed greatly the sonata in F. K.542 which, as noted, is the latest sonata on the CD. This is a quiet, meditiative work with lovely trills and bell-like passages. It is also the longest work on this CD. I also particularly liked the sonata in A major K. 500 which features shimmering legato passages in sixths. The final work on the CD, the sonata in D major, K. 479, was familiar to me. This is a lively work with many contrasting phrases and themes of different moods.

The program notes prepared by Keith Anderson are an added attraction to the Naxos series. Each volume comes with a good short description of each work, and each adds some information about the sonatas and about Scarlatti for the interested listener. Thus, this volume includes a discussion of the manner in which Scarlatti's works were published during his lifetime and the discussion is integrated with the treatment of the individual sonatas.

This CD will appeal to listeners who love or who want to get to love the music of Scarlatti.

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Sixteen Scarlatti Sonatas., April 5, 2005

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John Austin "[e-mail]" (Kangaroo Ground, Australia) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Domenico Scarlatti: Complete Keyboard Sonatas, Vol. 7 (Audio CD)

Hailed at a Lucerne Festival as a modern Rachmaninov and with an equally phenomenal piano technique, Konstantin Scherbakov gives his attention here to some of the sparer, gently rustling keyboard works of Domenico Scarlatti. Indeed, some of the sonatas he has chosen (for example K 291) are two-part writing of the simplest - at least he makes it sound so. Dynamics are skillfully shaded and contrasted, providing more light and shade than would be possible if the instrument were a harpsichord.

All the sonatas in this 64 minute CD are in binary form (comprised of two halves). Scherbakov always repeats the first halves but not always the second halves. As with earlier volumes in this Naxos series, the Kirkpatrick pairing of sonatas has been abandoned, a practice I do not regret. Scherbakov has selected many Scarlatti sonatas new to my own extensive CD collection, several marked andante being mixed with the greater proportion of fast moving pieces.

There's hours of fascination here, for a payment of very few dollars.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A real piano performance, March 26, 2005

By 

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

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This review is from: Domenico Scarlatti: Complete Keyboard Sonatas, Vol. 7 (Audio CD)

Does Scherbakov suppress some bass notes? Sure, but always as part of a musical intent. The only time I found myself disagreeing was in K 542--that's because he loses the dialog I hear. But that's OK--the beauty is that Scherbakov does have ideas and brings them out with clarity and wit. Yeah, I don't know who chooses what gets played on these volumes, but Scherbakov plays a greater proportion of lesser-known sonatas than others in this series. I can't recall ever hearing a performance of K 360--and it's a real gem! He does a boffo job on one of the few well-known sonatas that he plays, K 291 (and on this one, it's the upper part that gets subdued a bit). This is fine piano playing that exploits dynamics to bring out lines and express phrases without bizarre accents, and well-recorded, too.

I had to smile at another reviewer's concern that because the series as a whole did not respect the grouping by Kirkpatrick or Pestelli, there might be a few "loose ends" towards the end of the 555-sonata project. Since there's no evidence that Domenico Scarlatti had anything to do with the pairings or overall order in the two main sources, we started off with 525 loose ends! I like Naxos for not pretending otherwise.