Customer Reviews

Handel/Scarlatti: Murray Perahia Plays Handel & Scarlatti

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With this excellent release, Murray Perahia extends his recorded repertoire into the Baroque, exhibiting his usual thoughtfulness and sensitivity.

These are all more or less familiar works by now, having been recorded by the likes of Richter, Gould, Jarrett, Gilbert, and others. The Handel Suites have perhaps not quite the sophistication of the French and English Suites of J. S. Bach, but these charming essays are certainly worthy of repeated attention and do allow a wide range of interpretations.

Perahia has a cultivated and elegant tone, and generally takes a relaxed approach to the material, with an occasional tendency to rush at the codas. His interpretations emphasise the melodic over the rhythmic, and his fine technique seems at times to make the rough places smooth. Richter has a very different view of these pieces and brings out a rough and craggy side of these works which is not hinted at here.

The second half of the program consists of seven sonatas by Scarlatti. It begins with one of the best known of the 550 or so in Kirkpatrick's catalog. Kk. 491 is nicely played, with a good sense of the contrasts and lines.

A less familiar minor-key sonata, Kk. 27, is for me the high point of the recital. It is played with a lovely legato, subtle shading and measured dynamics. Perahia uses decrescendo to great effect here. The harmonic complexity of this piece seems to foreshadow Beethoven. This is one of the most subtle and interesting of Scarlatti's works.

Kk. 29 is given a very lively reading, even a little rushed, and could be presented with more contrast between the sections. In Kk. 206, Perahia employs a gentle, singing tone to good effect.

The intelligent sequence in which these sonatas are presented enhances the pleasure of listening. Overall this is a brilliant and very enjoyable foray into the Baroque from one of the masters. Highly recommended.

After spending about two weeks scouring for this CD, i finally managed to grab the only copy available from my local Tower Records store before deciding to order from Amazon.com as a last resort. I took this for a listen one night to perhaps have a little light soothing music before going to sleep, and it turned out that this CD kept me awake all night long.

In the opening Prelude (track 1) of Handel's Suite No. 5, the left hand comes in with just an ordinary single melodic line, but it is when the right hand comes in that the magic and enchantment begins, with the Allemande (track 2), Courante (track 3) and Air (track 4) following shortly. And it is at this point where I was captivated by not only Murray Perahia's playing but the shape and flow of the music. I knew that more was to come, and indeed, the Chaconne in G (track 5) blew me away totally, with breathtaking lyricism, beautiful contrapuntal weavings, flawless technique, controlled structural balance and startling virtuosity. All i could do was stare at my stereo while the CD spins and worship the sublimity of sound that was emanating from the speakers. This is baroque as I have never heard before.

By the end of the 8-minute Chaconne I found myself at a total loss for words. And this is only the 5th track out of 22. I'm finding it hard to describe in words the section with the bass octaves and running right-hand passages. Just take a listen to it and you'll see what I mean. I'll be searching for the Chaconne score the moment I have free time to spare. Needless to say the following tracks are equally brilliant. Unforgettable are the Air from Suite No. 3 (track 10) and Allegro from Suite No. 2 (track 13), my personal favourites alongside the Chaconne.

Perahia gives us a treat from Scarlatti in the second half of the programme, featuring 7 of the probably less known sonatas. I have played a selected few of Scarlatti's sonatas not in this CD and have enjoyed them, but with Perahia's playing of these Sonatas, particularly K27 (track 17), I feel compelled to dig out my Scarlatti Sonata score and start playing it, to indulge myself further in the characteristic excellence of Scarlatti.

What else can I say? After a 1st listening of this CD i immediately replayed it again, trying to make myself believe that such music ever existed and is played by one of the most accomplished pianists of our time. I am currently attempting one of J.S.Bach's Partitas, and I believe that if I could ever attain perhaps a fifth of Perahia's fluidity and lyricism palpably expressed in the Chaconne and incorporate it into the Partita, I would be greatly contented.

This is a disc that should never be missed. Take my word for it. A CD that is truly a treasure. And a big BRAVO to Murray Perahia, who already astounded me the first time he came to my country for a one night performance of Beethoven/Schubert repertoire.

Over the years I have compiled a list of pianists I want to be sure to hear in concert before I die. At the top of the list of remaining pianists yet unheard is Murray Perahia. He is, for me, possibly the most talented, most musical, most elegant pianist before the public. What, I asked myself, do I have to add to the sixteen reviews of this disc thus far submitted? Well, probably nothing startling. But I felt I needed to add my praise and a few comments about this essential disc.

The first, I suppose, is that I feel this disc IS essential. For anyone interested in baroque keyboard music this release (along with the other Bach and Handel discs Perahia has made) shows us how a modern pianist, using modern techniques and performance practices, has much to say about this so-familiar music. Of course, Perahia has a perfected technique. His left hand is possibly the best I've ever heard. Just listen to the incredibly fast runs, inflected on the fly, in some of the fast movements presented here (as in the presto variation of the 'Harmonious Blacksmith,' for instance). Nobody else has as fluid a legato or rounded tone as Perahia. His feather-light staccatos at breakneck speed are breathtaking. In the G minor Chaconne of Handel the left hand octaves ring out like a 16-foot organ pedal stop. And on and on. All of this is the service of elegance, grace and rich yet crystalline sonority. When drama is called for, it's there.

The extensive, admiring booklet notes, written by the late, great harpsichordist (and no mean pianist himself) Igor Kipnis, capture what is unique about Perahia.

This disc belongs on every musiclover's shelf.

Scott Morrison

I went to music school in the late seventies to the mid-eighties during the height of the authentic interpretation movement. I believe that our musical culture is much better because of the experiments and study of this movement. I participated in an early music ensemble while attending music school and we performed a lot of interesting music always thinking about how it might have been done when it was first written.

However, I was also trained on the piano by a man whose teacher was a pupil of Liszt. I kept asking folks that if we wanted authentic performance practice the question should be whose performance practice. Isn't there a late nineteenth century performance practice? Of course, nowadays the early music people are indeed looking anew at the Romantic performance practices. And we are the better for it.

Here we have Handel and Scarlatti on the piano. And yes they sound wonderful when played well on the harpsichord, clavichord, virginal, and EVEN the piano. It is true that our present pianos sound nothing like the early pianos (which were made to sound a lot like harpsichords in any event). But this music does stand up to interpretations on the modern piano.

Here we have first rate playing and first-rate interpretation and excellent recording techniques (if just a tad wet for my taste). I don't want to give up hearing this music in any medium. I want to hear it on harpsichord AND on the piano AND on the clavichord AND on anything else a first rate musician wants to play it on. That is the key for me. Who's playing it?

I have to confess a weakness for ground basses and chaconne forms. Heck, I like the variation form - especially to play. The performance of the Chaconne in G Major here is quite wonderful. It caused me to dig out the music and have fun with it on my own piano. It is really fun to make the big octaves boom with those big chords. Kind of like an organ (another keyboard instrument that would work for the Chaconne).

The Scarlatti on this disk will make you want to get your music off the shelf and work on them so you can play the music more like Perahia. He has wonderful tone and fluidity. But he also has humor and wit - something so many virtuosi lack. Remember, this is fun music above all! This is Spanish court music (written by an Italian) and shouldn't ever be brooding or angst ridden. Perahia understands this. Listening to this can be a rib tickling (as well as an ivory tickling) experience.

Bravo!

"Why can't all piano records be as good as this?", Gramophone's reviewer asks himself as he sets out to describe the many treasures, hidden and otherwise, of this remarkable achievement. Why, indeed. Which, of course, calls forth the question: shouldn't this repertoire be performed on that most individual and idiosyncratic of instruments, the harpsichord, for which it was originally conceived?
I am a convinced authenticist--I can no longer bring myself to listen to Baroque (or earlier) music that is not performed on period instruments: somehow it just doesn't sound right. And yet I am a great admirer of Perahia's accomplishments: it is not everyday that one finds such faultless technique, such command of shades and nuances, such surprising insights, such reserved, yet overwhelming lyricism, such versatility of touch--so apparent, for instance, in his masterly presentation of Chopin's Piano Works (1994, strongly recommended). So it was with mixed feelings, and equipped with the necessary dose of scepticism, that I first played this CD.
Well, it is unique. Everything one has learned to expect from Perahia is here; and, if possible, even more. He does not pretend that this is piano music; but by means of sheer artistry he succeeds in making wonderful piano music out of it. This is not to say that the more distinctive features of harpsichord music are lost on him: he is brilliant, crisp, and fast enough when needed. Simply, instead of merely mimicking the sound and feel of the harpsichord (a risky and usually unrewarding venture), he tries to make sense of these scores from a pianist's point of view. It seems to me that this approach reveals more than it conceals: for instance, the Harmonious Blacksmith Variations (Suite N. 5 in E Major, HWV 430) quite unexpectedly acquire a softly hypnotic ring which I found very appealing. The virtuosity is astounding, so second-nature that it almost fails to impress. The sound is excellent. (Two or three of the Scarlatti tracks were perhaps recorded at a slightly lower volume than the rest--but I might be wrong.)
Handel (1685-1759) and Domenico Scarlatti (1685-1757) were contemporaries. Before heading off for what would become their adoptive countries (England and Portugal, respectively), the two player-composers even met twice, the first time in Venice, and then in Rome, where a trial of skill was held (Scarlatti turned out to be perhaps the better harpsichordist, while Handel excelled at the organ). The Handel pieces were all composed in Germany or in Italy, and are therefore early, pre-England works (before 1718), while the pieces by Scarlatti date from the 1730s, his Portuguese period. The tracks were recorded in 1996 in Vienna and Neumarkt, Germany. The booklet is mildly enlightening.

Well maybe that is a bit exaggerated but it certainly ranks way up there with the best.

I was fortunate enough to see Murray Perahia perform a number of these pieces in Oxford during the period leading up this recording. Handel's Chaconne in particular stuck in my mind after the concert as it had a profound affect on me. I am not one moved to tears often but the tears flowed in the concert and they still flow when I listen to this recording.

The "Harmonious Blacksmith" is another astonishing piece on piano.

In fact the whole album is astonishing. The playing is precise and clear at all times, as baroque music should be, but Mr Perahia manages to avoid a mechanical approach, injecting humanity into the music without sentimentality.

I could waffle on for ages but all you need to know is that this album is truly breathtaking and should be in every music lovers collection.

Heck buy two copies so you can keep one in the car permanently ;-)

Just a pity Handel and Scarlatti couldn't hear it!

Putting Perahia's magnificent achievement into words is difficult indeed. This is the kind of playing that silences criticism. This - and Perahia's other Bach CDs - simply define how Baroque keyboard music should be played (yes, even considering Gould). The only thing to be done is to buy this record - you will find yourself returning to it again and again with great satisfaction.

I've never been a great fan of Handel and have always adored Domenico Scarlatti, however on this album all the pieces are great. The Handel playing is much more engaging and less tinny than the famous Gavrilov/richter Recordings of the 70s.
I believe that the standout track is no 17, Scarlatti's Sonata in B Minor, K27. I'm no pianist, although I love classical music profoundly. For me the playing is subtle, full of dynamic colour, light and shade, and intensely moving pianism. I don't listen to it often, just so that I can always know that when I put it on I'm transported into a realm of the exquisitely beautiful, it's that good.
Classical music is a bottomless pit, you have all the named genius composers from a couple or so hundred years ago, and what a treat that the interpreters can be geniuses in their own right, they don't have to be composers, their interpretations are available to us in ever increasing sonic depth, richness, warmth and clarity. Dim the light, put on track 17 and await deliverance.

This Cd contains a number of short piano selections by two of the finest composers for keyboard of the baroque, Handel and Scarlatti. Played on a grand piano, and not a harpsichord, the music sounds cleaner, but also far less buzzing and alive with the golden multitude of harmonic overtones found in the ancient instrument. Anyone hearing this delightful and imaginative music for the first time really should make an effort to try this music played by one of the great modern harpsichordists - currently I strongly recommend Pierre Hantaļ -Scarlatti:22 Sonates Pour Clavecin - Sophie Yates remains quite popular in Handel Harpsichord Works 1: Suites 1-6

The music played by Murray Perahia on the Cd is divided into four compositions by Handel of between 8 to nearly 14 minutes, and 7 Scarlatti sonatas, these latter typical of the composer, and ranging from 3 to 6 minutes in length. Most of the compositions are not, as one reviewer suggests, less known! The most famous one is the finale Air to Handel's Suite No.5 in E major, HWV 430, nicknamed "The Harmonious Blacksmith", from the dawn of recorded time a common keyboard concert piece. You can hear Backhaus - from 1908! and Cortot and Rosenthal and others all playing it on old shellac - and all finding more color, I have to say, despite the anitdeluvian recordings, than Perahia!(Mark Hambourg recorded a titanic version recalling Anton Rubinstein, complete with his usual barrage of wrong notes!) Perahia certainly plays the famous encore very well, and thankfully without showering the listener with wrong notes, or any oddities or indulgences, but he never erases fond memories I have of this music in several sensational live performances. Never-the-less, Perahia's is vivid and involved playing, and if he never quite rockets off into the sort of volcanic flights I really want to hear in this music, he does indeed play it extremely well.

In the remainder of the music Perahia's natural stylistic bent serves him to a 'T'; a lyricist, but rarely a sentimentalist, and not by nature a dramatist, Perahia has always sounded most at home in music requiring a touch of restraint - no one should look to Perahia for shattering fortes! he's not the pianist to do "Pictures at an Exhibition" full justice! His light but attractive color palette always sounds much better in person, recordings have too often failed him. However, here he receives very nice sound for a change; his refusal to over pedal works to his advantage in recordings of baroque music, where a less voluptuous piano tone can clarify counterpoint and melodies better than the busy bees sound universe of too many harpsichordists, a painfully droning sound world right out of a World Cup match!

A large part of Perahia's core repetoire has been Mozart and Schubert, his ability to open out and develop with great logic the smallest musical cells remains one of his great achievements with these composers' music. This proves a wonderful thing indeed in most of this baroque music - Perahia plays with, for him, an added element of muscularity and fullness of tone - these are some of the most assured of his many recordings.

Perahia for me is best when he takes added risks, and pushes his limits. Thus, I totally diagree with the reviewer who found his performance of Scarlatti's sensational Sonata in D Major, K.29. too rushed. That happens to be the speed the music should be played - or at least, attempted! Scarlatti was a positive demon when it came to speeds - all the written reports give him out to be, in the immortal words of the Wicked Witch, "As fast as ligthning!" Perahia responds to the challenge here with playing as extroverted and exciting here as I have heard from him, and the result is a joyous outpouring, an unforgettable delight! Years spent mastering the intricate musical language of Mozart lends Perahia an exquisite sensibility in evoking the multitude of ever-shifting nuances in the Scarlatti sonatas, and the pianist's firm mastery of cantabile, so natural and refined, makes him a joy to hear in almost any of these selections by one of the greatest composer for the lyric stage, Handel.

These recordings are now fifteen years old - as such they constitute both a bargain and a fitting record of a pianist whose career has represented and exemplified the classical ideal.

If you enjoy Perahai's playing of the Scarlatti search on piano searchy out the most remarkable of all piano versions of Scarlatti sonatas, the recent Sudbin Cd - Scarlatti: Piano Sonatas You will not find any piano version showcasing Scarlatti's myriad and almost devilishly unstopping variety of colorful atmospherics!

Perahia is a wonderful pianist, but this album seems to me his most wonderul (so far). The music is as compelling as the far better known keyboard works by Bach, so listeners who do not know these pieces will be delighted by them. No pianist or harpsicordist known to me has ever recorded the Handel suites with the moving lyricism that Perahia brings to this performance. For many months, this CD was one of seven I placed in my car's disc changer. As often as I listened to it, I never grew tired of this record's enchanting and exalted performances. Bravo!