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Reviewer:
Lindsay Kemp
One of the joys of Scarlatti’s sonatas, as with Bach cantatas and Haydn symphonies, is that the fact that there are too many to grasp means that you always feel as if you are encountering something new. The 16 sonatas here put well-known ones alongside others that will be unfamiliar to many listeners, though of course peppered with original ideas and surprises. The ‘discoveries’ here include Kk547, with its brief, possibly deliberate references to Rameau’s Les cyclopes; Kk475, opening in military fanfares, then releasing into delirious swirls; Kk28, enlivened by delightful trampoline leaps; Kk388, whose politely imitative opening lurches unexpectedly into something more suggestive of a street-cry; Kk277, a simple but exquisitely shaped Cantabile andantino similar in style and mood to the popular Kk208; and Kk205, each of whose halves opens in dignified 2/2 before shooting off into rockin’ 6/8. The better-known sonatas include the broodingly melancholy Kk474, the haughtily Hispanic Kk238 and the gorgeous B minor Andante of Kk87, so loved by pianists. Hantaï’s brisk way with the last may strike some of those pianists as lacking in Romantic sentiment but its essential lyricism is skilfully preserved nonetheless. Seventy-eight minutes of harpsichord music by one composer is not always an easy listen but with Scarlatti and Hantaï it is an absolute pleasure to stay with. |
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