Customer Reviews

Scarlatti: Complete Keyboard Sonatas, Vol. 3

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Almost every keyboard player, whether harpsichordist or pianist, has included sonatas by Domenico Scarlatti (1685-1757) in recitals and recordings. The so-called sonatas number nearly 600. They contain an incredible variety of mood, colour and rhythm, but never a surprise ending - Scarlatti allows you to see an ending coming a mile off.

The ubiquitous Jeno Jando is the pianist in this third volume of a projected complete recording of the Scarlatti sonatas undertaken by Naxos Records. Apparently the policy in this project is to use the piano throughout, to observe repeats in each sonata, and to ignore the convention of pairing many of the sonatas.

Jando's fingers trip nimbly through a selection of 16 sonatas on this CD. The selection includes ones that are much duplicated in my record collection and some that I have never heard before. Amongst the latter is a virtuoso piece featuring rapid descending scales (Track 2) and another featuring passages of repeated single notes, suggesting guitar technique (Track 3).

Offering 67 minutes at extreme budget price, this is very good value indeed. Don't expect top quality piano recording, however. The sound here is strangely muted.

It has been a privilege to hear Scarlatti vol. 1 with Eteri Andjapararidze, vol. 2 with Michael Lewin and vol. 3 (this album) with Jeno Jando on the piano. Although it would have been better to hear these works on their written instrument, the harpsichord, I have had a fascinating afternoon.

With regard to Jeno Jando, his interpretation of Scarlatti is characterized by its fluidity, speed and emphasis. He abandons the staccato style of Lewin and he does not bring in 20th century interpretations of 17th century material as in vol. 1.

This is yet a 20th century creation but it brings to the Baroque a new style which is not to be ignored. Jando does not bring out bouncing rhythms - he uses his left hand in conjunction with the right to bring out emphasis.

On the whole, this is a superior album but for true Scarlatti fans, it is important to have ALL the albums in this series.

Speed kills. Why do I get the impression that here Scarlatti's Sonatas offer a window of opportunity for intellectual and technical display? I would suggest a careful reading beginning with page 292 in Kirkpatrick's book, "Domenico Scarlatti", on the subject of Tempo and Rhythm. He writes, "All of us, especially the young, have been quilty of playing Scarlatti too fast". He might have said the same thing to young Glenn Gould about the way he, at times, ripped through Bach so incredibly fast.

I perceive Scarlatti as a composer who transcribed for harpsichord what he heard and saw as he walked around town in Baroque Spain: song, dance, and expecially quitar. Today we further transcribe the music for pianoforte which offers us greater possibilities of expression. Other things equal, I'd bet that Scarlatti would use the piano as the instrument of choice.

So I take exception to Track 2 with its beautiful scales. A slower tempo would produce a very different musical picture: quitar music of marvelous rhythm and spirit; and a warm feeling about things Spanish.

Most of the recent Scarlatti CDs are by pianists living well East of Madrid. They are all unique; uniquely personal, uniquely excellent, and uniquely Slavic. Hopefully Naxos will include Spanish-born pianists in this wonderful series.

I appreciate J. Jando's performance, musical opinions, and great contributions to a thirsty audience

True, Jeno Jando may not be one of the best known pianists in today's classical scene. Yet he is one of the most productive and already recorded around 100 cds within the last 10 years. True again, this seems to be more a sign of quantity than quality, but - despite the fact that NAXOS doesn't always offer perfect sound qualities - within this vast production there are some pearls to be discovered. And those Scarlatti Sonatas sure are to be counted among them. Jando's intellectual approach to music sometimes resulted in a seemingly emotional flatness, such as in his recording of the Beethoven Sonatas. With Scarlatti this intellectuality and his superb technique lead Jando to great clarity and a tremendously exciting interpretation. With care he elaborates on each and every melodic sideline, the chordic accents sometimes turn to real caesurae, pretending to interupt the pulsing flow of the lines, but in fact only intensifying the rhythmic drive and strain. Although Jeno Jando did not yet show evidences of sheer ingeniousness, like Glenn Gould used to do working on Bach, and though his playing could be called - in the best sense of the word - technical, his approach to baroque music lead him in a similar direction: opening up emotional richness by playing the music with the uttermost clarity and discipline.

In 1999, the budget-priced Naxos label began the large-scale project of recording the complete 550 or so keyboard sonatas of Domenico Scarlatti (1685 -- 1787) on the piano. Each volume of the series will be performed by a different pianist, resulting in a number of varying interpretations of this highly idiosyncratic composer. In addition, the project has given exposure and recording credit to a number of deserving young artists. As of this writing, twelve CDs of Scarlatti sonatas by as many pianists have appeared, making an average release of one CD per year since the project began. I eagerly await each new release. After hearing the most recent CD by the Viennese pianist Gerda Struhal,Complete Keyboard Sonatas, I decided to go back and hear an earlier recording in the series which I had missed when it came out.

Recorded in 1999 and released in 2001, Jeno Jando's CD is volume 3 in the Scarlatti series. Unlike most of the performers in the series, Jeno Jando (b. 1952) is among the most recorded of pianists with recordings of the complete sonatas of Haydn, Mozart,Beethoven, and Schubert, among much else, to his credit on Naxos. Jando has been aptly described as a pianist who does not let his ego get in the way of the music. He offers a sparkling reading of Scarlatti. He plays at a quick tempo with sharp, angular articulation and with no attempt to romanticize this music. The readings are strongly rhythmical, well thought out, and reminded me of Jando's way with the early Haydn sonatas which are indebted to Scarlatti. Jando has a tendency to hum when he plays, but I did not find this distracting. In a word, Jando makes a valuable contribution to the Naxos series with this enjoyable disk.

The CD includes 16 sonatas, including some that are well-known. It is weighted toward the earlier, more dashing, part of Scarlatti's large output. Of the 16 works, 11 are numbered at K. 261 or earlier. There is a good mix of keys with 7 sonatas in the minor and 9 in the major.

Several works on this CD were familiar to me because they are included in the first volume of Ralph Kirkpatrick's edition of 60 Scarlatti sonatas for the piano, Scarlatti: 60 Sonatas for Piano in Two Volumes - Volume 1 (Schirmer's Library Of Musical Classics, Vol. 1774) It is especially enjoyable to follow these relatively familiar works with scores. The most familiar of these works is the sonata in D major, K. 119, with its large chords, distinctive rhythms, repeated notes, and cascading arpeggio shortly after the work begins. But my favorite of these pieces was the sonata in a minor, K. 54, with its lilting triplet theme in 12/8 time, with long song-like passages in thirds, sixths, and octaves. The flamboyant, rapid-fire sonata in E major, K. 46, and the guitar-like G major sonata, K.105 round out this group.

Other sonatas worth pointing out include the sonata in F major, K. 525, which is probably the most frequently performed work on this CD with its repeated notes and insistent Spanish dance rhythm. The lengthiest work on the CD is the sonata in c minor, K 126, which was new to me. It is melancholy in character with shifting rhythms. Jando does well in holding this extended work together. The early sonata in f minor, K. 69, is full of contrapuntal writing and has a gently sad mood. Finally, several earlier reviewers have commented upon Jando's brisk performance of the flashy early sonata in d minor, K. 10, with its long passages of runs.

All told, this CD offers an excellent mix of Scarlatti sonatas played with force. The CD will delight listeners who love Scarlatti and will make an excellent introduction to newcomers to this composer and to the Naxos series.

Total time: 66:53

Robin Friedman

The #2 track, K 10, is one of the 30 sonatas of the Essercizi, the only sonatas ever published in Scarlatti's lifetime, so it gets recorded a lot. Jando's performance is the best I've ever heard not only because of speed but because of a little rhythmic setup for the 32nd-note passages. He makes it a dramatic event.

The #1 track, K 201, is OK, but Cristiana Pegararo owns this sonata, and the detached way Jando plays the 3 passages that start the 2nd half is surprisingly wimpy. Gotta slam it, man!

But K 119, the last track, is the best performance I've heard of this well-known sonata on piano. The only performance that is too fast is K 525--the chunky cadential chords need a little hang time to reverberate in this listener's skull. So there are a couple of duds, but this CD is full of fine music and one of the high points of the Naxos series.

In Volume 3 of Naxos' series of the complete Scarlatti Keyboard Sonatas, Jeno Jando offers 16 mostly unfamiliar (to me) Scarlatti Piano Sonatas.

His playing is energetic, clean, but also unvarying in terms of color and dynamics. One of Scarlatti's characteristics is repeated passages which afford the keyboard player an opportunity to vary color, shading, dynamic levels. Listening to Jando, I couldn't help wondering how much more other pianists, such as Horowitz, Pogorelich etc might have done with this music using changes in dynamics and touch.

A disappointing CD.