A Superabundant Splash of Scarlatti Sonatas. Domenico Scarlatti, That Is.

Last updated on: September 22, 2015 at 12:37 pm by Joseph Susanka

A Superabundant Splash of Scarlatti Sonatas. Domenico Scarlatti, That Is. 2015-09-22T12:37:10-06:00 Joseph Susanka

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Inspired by last year’s (“evergreen,” luckily) “A Surge Of Scarlatti Sonatas” piece from NPR Music’s “Deceptive Cadence” blog, I’ve been immersing myself in the melodious seas of Domenico “Not Alessandro” Scarlatti over the past few days. It’s been fun, especially as “Listen-While-You-Work” music, where a solo instrument tends to be my melodic weapon of choice. (The only thing I don’t like about the piece? The fact that it’s not entitled “A Surge Of Scarlatti Sonati.” Or even “Surge of Scarlatti Sonatii.” …which wouldn’t actually make any sense, but would be super-gratifyingly symmetrical. Otherwise, it’s golden.)

Why all the Scarlatti? Pianist David Greilsammer sees vast possibilities in the music. The Scarlatti sonatas, Greilsammer says in notes to his new album, comprise “a miraculous space designed for conception and experimentation.” The composer had his formulas, but each sonata has its own colorful personality that presents itself differently in the hands of various musicians.

Let’s start off with something a bit unusual, though: Scarlatti on the accordion, which works really, really well. Performed here by Finnish accordionist Janne Rättyä (who has also done some wonderful Bach transcriptions).

Here’s a bit from haprsichordist Scott Ross, credited as “the first to record all of Scarlatti’s sonatas.”

And since I’ve always been more of a piano guy than a harpsichord lover — despite realizing that Scarlatti’s 550+ sonati would have been performed pretty much exclusively on it — here’s a flavor of the piano (performed by David Greilsammer with a wonderful lightness). Not sure Scarlatti would have made of it, but it’s fantastic.

That’s probably still not “superabundant,” though. So in the interests of delivering on the sizable promise of my title, here’s a playlist called “The Complete Sonatas, Vol. I.” And here’s “The Complete Sonatas, Vol. V.” And “The Complete Sonatas, Vol. VI.” I’m not sure where II-IV are, but YouTube’s #DomenicoScarlatti channel is fertile ground for the Scarlatti enthusiast, including a small handful of guitar transcriptions and this piano playlist, which I’ve been looping nearly non-stop of late.

Enjoy!

Attribution(s): “Retrato de Domenico Scarlatti” by Domingo Antonio Velasco (source) is licensed under Public Domain via Commons.

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