Customer Reviews

Scarlatti: Keyboard Sonatas

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Domenico Scarlatti (1685 - 1757): 18 Sonatas for Harpsichord. Performed by Luc Beauséjour. Recorded at the Church of St.-Alphonse-de-Rodriguez in Quebec (no date given). Published in 1995 as Analekta Fleur de Lys FL 2 3041. Total playing time: 74'27".

Domenico Scarlatti, a son of the famous Neapolitan composer Alessandro Scarlatti, spent the latter part of his life in Portugal and Spain, where he wrote some 555 sonatas for harpsichord, most or even all of which were intended for the personal use and entertainment of Maria Barbara, the Spanish "infanta", a passionate harpsichord player. Over the years, Scarlatti produced not only some very pretty pieces, but also found ways of making the harpsichord a very expressive instrument, using (to quote Analekta's notes here) "repeated notes and chords, jumps, hand-crossing, brilliant runs, etc." He has the harpsichord imitate other instruments (such as the guitar) as well as sound-effects such as the foot-stomping of Flamenco dancers, and the overall effect is both playful and exuberant; it goes without saying that all this makes virtuoso demands on the player.

Luc Beauséjour has here produced a very attractive issue with a selection of 18 of Scarlatti's sonatas from K.1 through to K. 555 (the Kilpatrick numbers generally reflect the year of composition, so this means from the earliest through to the latest). Luc Beauséjour studied the harpsichord with Mireille Lagacé, Ton Koopman and Kenneth Gilbert, and as a player he has all the skill necessary to make these sonatas come joyfully alive. I found it not at all difficult listening to all 18 sonatas in one sitting, there being here a great deal of variety, a general atmosphere of "fun" (to quote another reviewer) and this all captured quite excellently by Analekta's engineers (confirming, incidentally, my opinion that Beauséjour's first disc of Forqueray harpsichord pieces for Naxos, which was recorded at exactly the same location, could have been slightly better engineered). Bravo!

So why only four stars and not five? Well, for one thing, there are two sonatas on this disc which have also been recorded by Trevor Pinnock (in 1986) for Deutsche Grammophon Archiv: K. 544 and 545. Listening to both recordings one after the other, it became obvious that Pinnock, who plays the repeats and is a little slower, is able to invest these sonatas with a certain profundity which the fun-loving Luc Beauséjour misses. Also, I felt that the Deutsche Grammophon sound was even better than Analekta's. And last but not least, Analekta gives no indication whatsoever what instrument Luc Beauséjour was playing on, something that, on a disc of harpsichord music, is inexcusable: there are so many different kinds of harpsichord with different sounds that a connoisseur always wants to know who made the instrument, when and where, and if it is a copy, what the original was.

Having said that, however, this is still a most enjoyable disc that I would particularly recommend to anyone who has not yet discovered Scarlatti for himself.

Mr Beauséjour is a very talented musician. First of all, the selections of the sonatas is very good. Of course they are "popular" sonatas but those one are really the best, like the sonata K.141 (d minor). If you ever have the chance to see Luc in concert, you'll see how much fun he has when he plays Scarlatti (as well as everything else!) and how good (not to say perfect) his "technique" is. When I listen to that CD, I remember the times I saw him in concert. Also, you can really feel the energy through Luc's touch. And, on the top of that, Luc is a very nice man.