DOMENICO SCARLATTI 6 CD Set the Complete Sonatas DOMENICO Other Titles in This Series SCARLATTI Volumes I • III • IV • V • VI • VII VOLUME II
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DOMENICO SCARLATTI 6 CD set The Complete Sonatas DOMENICO other titles in this series SCARLATTI Volumes I • III • IV • V • VI • VII VOLUME II DOMENICO DOMENICO DOMENICO Venice III – V (1753) SCARLATTI SCARLATTI SCARLATTI VOLUME I VOLUME III VOLUME IV (K206 – 295) Essercizi per Gravicembalo Venice VI – VIII (1753-4) Venice IX – XI (1754-6) (K1-30) (K296 – 355, K358 – 387) (K388 – 451, K454 – 483) Venice I & II (1752) (K49, K98, K99, K129, K148-201) RICHARD LESTER RICHARD LESTER Harpsichord RICHARD LESTER Harpsichord & Organ Harpsichord & FORTEPIANO RICHARD LESTER Harpsichord DOMENICO DOMENICO DOMENICO & organ SCARLATTI SCARLATTI SCARLATTI VOLUME V VOLUME VI VOLUME VII Venice XII – XIII (1756-7) Appendices & Diversities Venice XIV (1742) (K484 – 543) 57 Sonatas (K3, 10-12, 17, 31, 36-38, Continuo Sonatas 43-77, 79, 80, 82-87, 92, 93) (K78, K81, K88 – 91) Venice XV (1749) RICHARD LESTER (K96, K98-138) Richard Lester Harpsichord Harpsichord & Fortepiano RICHARD LESTER Harpsichord For availability and complete track details please visit www.wyastone.co.uk/nrl/scarlatti.html NI 1726 DOMENICO SCARLATTI near the jack rail. The length of the instrument (8ft as a virtuoso harpsichordist. His piano teachers have 3ins) allows for a rich and resonant bass and the included Bernard Roberts - and on the harpsichord, The Complete Sonatas tapering of the soundboard in certain areas produces George Malcolm - who sponsored his London debut a sonorous treble.The case is of pine with tulipwood recital. His many solo engagements have included Volume II NI 1726 veneer, spruce soundboard with walnut bridges and broadcasts for BBC radio and television, recitals at the the keys, like Queen Maria Barbara’s instruments are Royal Festival Hall Purcell Room, Wigmore Hall, Venice III – V (1753) of ebony and mother of pearl. Bath International Festival, Bruges Festival, many (K206 – 295) The harpsichord played on Discs 1-2 is a copy of a concerts abroad - and master classes at Dartington Summer School. RICHARD LESTER • Harpsichord & Organ two-manual English harpsichord by Stephen Wessell, the original being discovered in a barn in Eastcote. It was at Dartington that he met the great The specification consists of two eight-foot registers, Spanish/American harpsichordist, Fernando Valenti, ‘Domenico Scarlatti was without doubt, the most This then, is where Scarlatti first heard the hypnotic a four-foot, and a harp stop on the lower eight-foot. who ignited Lester’s enthusiasm and passion for original keyboard composer of his time’, wrote Ralph sounds of Andalucian gypsy music that were to Two of the sonatas on this recording, K287 and K288 Scarlatti’s sonatas. He subsequently recorded an Kirkpatrick, Scarlatti’s biographer.1 become an endless source of inspiration for many are marked “Per Organo da Camera con due tastatura album of Scarlatti sonatas which was hailed by all the th sonatas, all as far as we know, written for his royal He was born in Naples on October 26 1685, the flautato e trombone” (For chamber organ with two major recording magazines as ‘brilliant’. He has pupil. same year as Bach and Handel. It was not until around keyboards of flutes and reeds).These are recorded on written extensively for music magazines and 1720 however, that his compositional skills developed The court remained in Seville for four years before the organ of All Saints Church, Friern Barnet which is contributed two chapters on Scarlatti to a leading fully following an appointment in Portugal as chapel moving northward to Madrid. The annual itinerary a delightful instrument built in 1984 with two Hungarian book on early music, Regi Zene. music master to King João V, - and harpsichord writes Ralph Kirkpatrick, ‘…was then divided manuals and 25 stops by Church and Co. with a His reputation as an organist is clearly celebrated and teacher to his younger brother Don Antonio - and his between the royal residences. Easter, Buen Retiro specification similar to the instrument in the Chapel includes numerous recitals at King’s College, nine-year-old daughter, Princess Maria Barbara. near Madrid; Spring and early summer in Aranjuez, of the Royal Palace in Madrid. Both instruments Cambridge, St Paul’s Cathedral, Coventry Cathedral Following her marriage in 1729 to Fernando, Felipe the ancient seat of Carlos V and Felipe II in the Tagus include horizontal trumpets heard on the recording and many other cathedrals and churches in this V’s son (heir to the Spanish throne) Domenico was to valley between Madrid and Toledo; La Granja, high up contrasted with flutes up to mixture. country and abroad. During a busy musical life in the Guadarrama mountains toward Segovia; remain as her music master for the rest of his life. Richard Lester Richard Lester has also held positions as Head of Autumn at the Escorial on a lonely hillside music at the Mall school in Twickenham, Oakley Hall The Court in 1729 moved first to Seville, residing in overlooking the great plain toward Madrid, – and Through this single recorded marathon Richard School in Cirencester - and as Master of the the Alcazar, ancient palace of Moorish kings.This area January to mid-March at the old hunting lodge of the Lester has now established an international reputation Choristers at Cirencester Parish church. of Andalusia in Southern Spain is considered the home Pardo.’ of Flamenco, and frequent visits by the court to major towns afforded ample opportunity for a discerning When Felipe died in 1746, Fernando VI and Queen This compilation ൿ 2006 Wyastone Estate Limited © 2006 Wyastone Estate Limited ear, as Burney states to, ‘imitate the tunes sung by Maria Barbara made their state entry into Madrid. It Issued under license from the copyright owner Privilège Accord carriers, muleteers and common people’.2 is thought that between 1738 and 1756, Scarlatti Cover/inlay photo: © Firehorse/iStockphoto.com Design: doubletakedesign.co.uk page 2 Domenico Scarlatti volume II Page 11 The Instruments also had short compasses of fifty-nine, fifty-four and wrote the majority of his keyboard sonatas. Little is Antonio Soler, who studied with Scarlatti. These fifty-six keys respectively. Many of Scarlatti’s sonatas known of him during his time in Spain, although we volumes are now housed in the Biblioteca Palatina, in In choosing instruments on which to perform the demand a full five-octave range which would have know that he married twice and had nine children. He Parma. complete cycle of sonatas, I was guided by the excluded their performance on many instruments in was knighted in 1738 and remained in loyal service Queen’s inventory in which quite a detailed account Further sonatas have also been discovered and the collection. It is also interesting that sonatas, until his death on July 23, 1757. authenticated (included in volume 7 of this series) by of the instruments in her possession is presented. She suggestive of the piano’s expressiveness, actually fall owned twelve keyboard instruments distributed Between 1752 and 1757, thirteen volumes containing W. Dean Sutcliffe, author of The Keyboard Works of outside of the instruments’ compass. Of all the thirty sonatas in each were copied out for the Queen. Domenico Scarlatti. I am indeed indebted to him for between the royal palaces of Buen Retiro, Aranjuez instruments in Queen Maria Barbara’s collection, the and the Escorial. Seven were various types of Only volume X contains four extra. To this series of furnishing copies of manuscripts, which have enabled three Spanish harpsichords referred to in her volumes, two others were added numbered XIV and me to compile what is to date, the only complete harpsichords and five were pianofortes made in inventory were probably the most frequently used. Florence.These were probably made by Cristofori or XV and dated 1742 and 1749.These fifteen volumes recording of Scarlatti’s keyboard sonatas. Sonatas in his pupil Ferrini. It is interesting to note that two of The Portuguese family of Antunes were prominent were bound in red morocco and engraved in gold on Scarlatti’s hand have completely disappeared and in these instruments had been converted into harpsichord and piano makers in the 18th century and the front, together with the arms of Spain and fact examples of his writing are scarce. harpsichords. Either the instruments had been shared a workshop in Lisbon, and it is quite probable Portugal. The Queen bequeathed these to Farinelli, Although the Ralph Kirkpatrick numbers are used in unsatisfactory as pianos, or were of more use as that Scarlatti was familiar with their excellent work. the famous castrato who carried much favour at the this recorded edition the chronology follows Queen harpsichords; still the favourite keyboard instrument. Joachim José (1731-1811) was probably the most Spanish court. Some years after his death in 1782, Maria Barbara’s manuscripts which are now housed in notable and at least four instruments exist. It is a fine they were housed in the Biblioteca Marciana, in the Biblioteca Marciana in Venice. The largest harpsichord in the collection is described copy of the 1785 instrument by Michael Cole of Venice. These are now referred to as the Venice as possessing five registers and four sets of strings, one Cheltenham that we hear on Disc 3 - 6.The original is manuscripts and constitute the principal source for 1 Domenico Scarlatti by Ralph Kirkpatrick. (Princeton of which was probably a sixteen-foot stop. A further housed in the Finchcocks Collection of Musical these recordings. University Press) two harpsichords with three sets of strings, - and a Instruments in Kent. On the original there are two Flemish instrument with a similar disposition is also In addition, a further fifteen duplicate volumes were 2 Burney. The present state of music in Germany.Vol.1 eight-foot registers strung in brass with a harp stop on copied out mostly by the same copyist, possibly Padre referred to.