Scarlatti: 50 Sonates pour clavecin

Featuring

Pierre Hantaï
Domenico Scarlatti

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Compositional Technique

Scarlatti's music is noted for its exploration of modulations and new tonal paths, which the performer Pierre Hantaï believes is incomparable to his contemporaries.

Composer Biography

Scarlatti spent his later life in Spain, settling permanently in Seville and then Madrid after following Princess Maria Barbara of Portugal, whose musical education he was in charge of.

Composition History

Scarlatti published 30 'sonatas' for harpsichord, known as the Essercizi per gravicembalo, in London in 1738.

Recording & Production

The harpsichords used for this recording include a 1999 Jürgen Ammer instrument, modeled after a 1720 anonymous Thuringian harpsichord, and two Italian-type harpsichords made by Philippe Humeau in 2002.

Composer's Artistic Vision

Scarlatti's music is characterized by its innovative language, rhythms derived from folk music, and harmonic experiments, setting it apart from the musical concepts of his era.

Composer Biography

Domenico Scarlatti, the composer, was born in Naples in 1685, the same year as Bach and Handel.

Interpretation

The performer Pierre Hantaï believes Scarlatti's music requires interpreters who are proud, colorists, and passionate about rapid changes in texture, citing Leonhardt and Landowska as examples.