Scarlatti on Fortepiano

Domenico Scarlatti (Composer), David Schrader (Performer) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Performer: David Schrader
• Composer: Domenico Scarlatti
• Audio CD (December 2, 1998)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Cedille
• ASIN: B00000FY1F
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,289,789 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

1. Sonata for keyboard in C major, K. 132 (L. 457)

2. Sonata for keyboard in C minor, K. 129 (L. 460)

3. Sonata for keyboard in F minor, K. 386 (L. 171)

4. Sonata for keyboard in F major, K. 44 (L. 432)

5. Sonata for keyboard in G minor, K. 43 (L. 40)

6. Sonata for keyboard in A major, K. 209 (L. 428)

7. Sonata for keyboard in D minor, K. 434 (L. 343)

8. Sonata for keyboard in C minor, K. 84 (L. 10)

9. Sonata for keyboard in F minor, K. 239 (L. 281)

10. Sonata for keyboard in C major, K. 513 (L. S3)

11. Sonata for keyboard in C minor, K. 158 (L. 4)

12. Sonata for keyboard in A major, K. 113 (L. 345)

13. Sonata for keyboard in D minor, K. 52 (L. 267)

14. Sonata for keyboard in F minor, K. 519 (L. 475)

15. Sonata for keyboard in A major, K. 405 (L. 43)

16. Sonata for keyboard in C major, K. 308 (L. 359)

17. Sonata for keyboard in D minor, K. 64 (L. 58)

18. Sonata for keyboard in D minor, K. 517 (L. 266)

Editorial Reviews

Red Magazine

These performances are uniquely sparking and enjoyable . . . this is a virtuoso disc.

Product Description

Scarlatti on Fortepiano sheds new light on Domenico Scarlatti's keyboard sonatas and the early piano, or "fortepiano," of the composer's own time. The fortepiano, available to Scarlatti (1685-1757) in the royal palaces of Spain, was part of his sonic world. Yet the many Scarlatti sonata recordings on the market typically employ harpsichord or modern piano. Paradoxically, most fortepiano recordings offer music of the Classical and early Romantic periods, many of whose composers were starting to outgrow the early piano's capabilities, observes recording producer Jim Ginsburg. "On fortepiano, Scarlatti's baroque sonatas present the performer with interpretive opportunities, rather than constraints," he says. Keyboard artist David Schrader, a virtuoso on both harpsichord and fortepiano, says he tried to select, from among Scarlatti's 550 sonatas, those that benefit from the fortepiano's unique sound and its ability to employ "dynamic variation for the purpose of phrasing." Some of these sonatas (actually single-movement exercises) are quintessentially Spanish, while others show Scarlatti's "Roman" Italian side. Highlights of the 79-minute CD include the sonata K. 52, with its four (and sometimes five) distinct voices -- and a richness of harmony and counterpoint that's almost Brahmsian. The fast-fingered virtuosity of K. 517 seems to anticipate the pearling sound of much later piano music. The Andalusian harmony and vigorous dance rhythms of Scarlatti's Spanish-style K. 239 contrasts with the sweetness, purity, and innocent festivity of the Roman-syle K. 513. The witty and capricious K. 405, Schrader writes, "conjures up Beethoven in a very light (and slightly manic) vein, specifically the scherzo from Symphony No. 7." Schrader performs on Sutherland's mint-condition modern replica of a 1726 instrument: the last surviving piano built by Bartolomeo Cristofori, the Italian instrument maker who invented the piano around 1700.

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