CD 1: 23 Sonatas from existing and
unpublished manuscripts
Worgan MS (British Library)
Kk141 (L422) in d minor [4:15]
Kk142 in f# minor [2:15]
Kk143 in G [2:56]
Kk144 in C [4:11]
Fitzwilliam MS
Kk145 (L369) in D [4:35]
Kk146 (L349) in G [2:40]
Boivin MS
Kk95 (L358) in C [1:50]
Kk97 in g minor [6:03]
Münster MS
Kk147 (L376) in e minor [7:42]
Coimbra MS
Kk94 in F [1:19]
Turin MS
in d minor [1:43]
in G [1:21]
Madrid MS
in D [3:22]
in A [3:08]
Lisbon MS
in A [3:18]
Barcelona MS
in A [3:07]
in E [2:19]
Valladolid MS
in G [4:02]
in d minor [5:40]
in A [2:41]
Montserrat MS
in C [2:13]
in g minor [3:19]
in G [1:25]
CD2
Roseingrave MS (1739) Kk31-42
Kk31 (L231) in g minor [5:14]
Kk32 (L423) in d minor [2:08]
Kk33 (L424) in D [3:51]
Kk34 (L S7) in d minor [2:15]
Kk35 (L386) in g minor [2:57]
Kk36 (L245) in a minor [3:19]
Kk37 (L406) in c minor [4:16]
Kk38 (L478) in F [2:52]
Kk39 (L391) in A [4:05]
Kk40 (L375)in c minor [1:01]
Kk41 in d minor [5:54]
Kk42 (L S36) in B flat [1:28]
Parma MS (1725) Kk202-205
Kk202 (L498) in B flat [6:03]
Kk203 (L380) in e minor [6:08]
Kk204a in f minor [6:36]
Kk204b in f minor [6:11]
Kk205 (L S23) in F [8:56]
CD3
Parma MS (1754) Kk356-7
Kk356 (L443) in C [4:57]
Kk357 (L545) in C [5:45]
Münster MS Kk452-3
Kk452 in A [3:18]
Kk453 in A [2:32]
Kk453 in A (played on the fortepiano)
[3:10]
Parma MS (1757) Kk544-555
Kk544 (L497) in B flat [3:04]
Kk545 (L500) in B flat [3:27]
Kk546 (L312) in g minor [3:40]
Kk547 (L S28) in G [5:18]
Kk548 (L404) in C [6:12]
Kk549 (L S1)in C [5:08]
Kk550 (L S42) in B flat [2:52]
Kk551 (L396) in B flat [4:35]
Kk552 (L421) in d minor [3:11]
Kk553 (L425) in d minor [4:52]
Kk554 (L S21)in F [5:04]
Kk555 (L477) in f minor [4:34]
As 2007 marks the 250th anniversary
of the death of Domenico Scarlatti,
it is hardly surprising that the recording
industry has chosen to mark the occasion.
The current 3-CD set marks the conclusion
of one marathon series, recorded by
Richard Lester, originally issued at
full price by the small independent
label Privilege Accord a couple of years
ago and now reissued at bargain price
on the reborn Nimbus label. Though labelled
‘Appendices and Diversities’, this final
set is by no means to be considered
the rejects or sweepings from the master’s
workshop: several of the sonatas here
would (and do: Kk141, for example) deserve
a place in single-CD anthologies of
Scarlatti’s best works. (NB to avoid
confusion with Köchel numbers for
Mozart, I have listed the Kirkpatrick
numbers for Scarlatti as Kk.)
The main recordings have been issued
in five 6-CD boxes and one 5-CD box,
containing all the works included in
the manuscripts which were collected
and taken to Venice by the castrato
Farinelli after Scarlatti’s death. In
addition to those so-called Queen’s
Venice manuscripts, the standard Kirkpatrick
numbering embraces five other collections,
one at Parma, one originally belonging
to Thomas Roseingrave, a wealthy music-lover,
and two now in the Episcopal Library
at Münster. Those Kirkpatrick-numbered
sonatas, 34 in total, which are not
to be found in the Venice manuscripts
are performed on the second and third
CDs. The first CD is even more diverse,
containing ten sonatas which Kirkpatrick
accepted in his catalogue from sources
other than the Venice and Parma collections
and thirteen sonatas from sources not
known to Kirkpatrick. This arrangement
disturbs the Kk order – Kk356-7, for
example, would otherwise belong in Volume
III.
The booklet contains a very detailed
essay by Dr W Dean Sutcliffe in which
he discusses how the extra items on
the first disc came to light and how
authentic they are. Not even all the
items accorded Kirkpatrick numbers and/or
included in the earlier Longo catalogue
are sacrosanct. (Confusingly, some commentators
still employ the older Longo numbers.
I have given the L equivalents of the
sonatas in the heading. Some sonatas
do not have L numbers: for details see
the online concordance
of the Kk, L and P numbers – yes, there
is a third system, named after Pestelli!)
Kk95 and 97 are found only in a Parisian
manuscript and Sutcliffe doubts their
authenticity, pointing to similarities
between them and the keyboard works
of Couperin and his contemporaries,
an attribution made all the more probable
by the sensitive manner in which Lester
performs them, with a marked change
of style between tracks 5 and 6 (Kk145-6
from the Fitzwilliam MS) and tracks
7-8 (Kk95 and 97).
Other than these excellent notes on
CD1, however, and a supplementary booklet
dealing with the Flamenco influence
on Scarlatti’s music, which wastes some
space by repeating material from the
main booklet and contains no examples
from Volume VII – is this supplementary
booklet included in all the volumes?
– the booklet is rather sparse, with
details of the manuscripts which contain
the music and the harpsichord on which
it is performed and very little analysis
of the sonatas themselves.
Lester uses two harpsichords in some
of the other volumes, but on this final
set plays only a copy of a Portuguese
instrument of 1785, the original of
which is in the Finchcocks collection.
On the first CD this is tuned to A 415,
employing the Werckmeister III temperament;
on the two other CDs, recorded a year
later, while retaining the A 415 pitch,
the same instrument has been tuned using
a different well-tempered system by
Valotti. As I have written recently
in reviewing Bach’s Well-tempered Clavier,
I am not blessed or cursed with absolute
pitch, so I do not notice any difference
between these two temperaments. Those
interested in pursuing the matter might
wish to consult the web article
on temperament which I recommended in
my review of the Bach.
Kk453 is performed first on the harpsichord
and then on the fortepiano; despite
the heading ‘The Instruments’ in the
booklet, only the harpsichord is named
and described and no explanation is
offered as to why this one sonata is
given such treatment.
Despite the use of only the one harpsichord
here, Lester’s playing is sufficiently
varied for this not to be a problem.
Scarlatti no more wrote the same sonata
555+ times than Vivaldi wrote the same
concerto hundreds of times. I have already
referred to Lester’s sensitivity to
the different styles of Kk145-6 and
Kk95 and 97 and the same variety of
touch is apparent throughout the set.
What is less apparent is any attempt
to link those many sonatas which seem
to be paired as halves of a greater
whole in one or both catalogues – Kk32-3
(L423-4), for example. Indeed, the booklet
makes only the briefest, rather dismissive,
reference to this pairing concept on
page 9: if Dr Sutcliffe disbelieves
the theory, it would have been helpful
to say so more directly.
Kk141, the very first sonata on CD1,
matches Roseingrave’s description of
Scarlatti’s playing as if "ten
thousand d__ls had been at the instrument."
Lester polishes it off with appropriate
bravura but he is equally able
to match the style of the quieter sonatas.
Many of these sonatas are comparatively
easy but Lester never trivialises them.
Kk545 (CD3), for example, looks deceptively
easy in the score – it even made me
think I might manage to play it till
I noticed that it is marked prestissimo:
I might just manage it at allegro!
Lester plays it with such aplomb that
one might think there were as many of
Roseingrave’s d__ls in it as in Kk141.
Kk546 is a much quieter affair and Lester
copes with its more reflective mood
as effectively as he does its wilder
predecessor. Perhaps I could manage
Kk546 but, unfortunately, this is not
one of the scores available online.
As usual, it helps to follow at least
some of the pieces with the score to
hand; some of these may be found by
key signature at online-musiclibrary.
Slightly more is on offer, more conveniently
listed by Kk number – including Kk141
and the complete run of the Roseingrave
sonatas, Kk31-42 – at icking
music. Just the first three of the
Roseingrave sonatas provide plenty of
contrast – Kk31 fast but not furious,
with a short contrasting andante
section, bars 43-47; Kk32 a lyrical
Aria and Kk33, though marked
allegro, containing some of those
d – ls again in its demisemiquaver runs.
Follow them with the score and you will
appreciate how well Lester adapts his
playing to the different moods.
The recordings are good, though they
benefit from playback at a lower volume
than usual: my normal level made the
sound too ‘big’, with not enough air
around the instrument. At around 3dB
lower than usual, the sound is just
right.
Earlier volumes in this series have
been generally well received, for example
by my Musicweb colleague Mark Sealey,
whose recent enthusiastic reviews of
Volume
V and Volume
VI and earlier review
of Volume III should be consulted
since they contain matters which it
would be superfluous to repeat here.
At the same time Brilliant Classics
are also engaged in a bargain-price
Complete Sonatas set, being released
in more bite-size 3-CD chunks, in Kirkpatrick
order, and performed on a variety of
instruments. Robert
Hugill found Belder’s playing on
Volume 6 of this set good but a little
lacking in variety; others have responded
rather more positively.
Mark Sealey complained of the flimsy construction
of the cases of the earlier sets. Volume VII is housed in a conventional
double-size CD case of sturdy construction. Those seeking a single-CD
anthology of Scarlatti’s Keyboard Sonatas will be well served
by the pending reissue of Trevor Pinnock’s set of 14 sonatas on
DGG Archiv Al Fresco 477 6736, due for release in September 2007,
or the selection from Scott Ross’s complete set on Warner Elatus
2564 60030 2, or the selection from Pierre Hantaï’s award-winning
recordings on Naïve E8836, all three at mid price. Mikhail
Pletnev’s bargain-price 2-CD selection on Virgin Veritas 5 61961
2 is an award-winner but, as he performs the sonatas on the piano
and I dislike hearing any music from this period on the piano,
it is outside my jurisdiction.
Those wishing to obtain the complete
works (though without some of the items
contained on the first CD of the current
Nimbus set) may still find the Warner
set of Scott Ross’s performances their
best purchase (2564 62092-2, 34 CDs
for around £90). Patrick Waller’s enthusiastic
review
of the Warner set contains valuable
information about Scarlatti himself
and his music and several links, all
of which would serve as an excellent
supplement to the sparse information
about the music contained in the booklets.
Ross or Lester, those with a desire
for completeness can hardly go wrong.
Brian Wilson
Mark Sealey has
also listened to this set
Our previous reviews
of earlier volumes in this series from
Nimbus of all Scarlatti's keyboard sonatas
played by Richard Lester, have acknowledged
a remarkable achievement remarkably
well brought off. The miscellany of
works in this final volume is no exception.
One does not note the kind of personal
development of the Italian composer
who spent most of his life in Spain
- and specifically in the service of
the a handful of members of the same
royal court - as one does for, say,
the piano sonatas of Beethoven or even
Mozart, who was born the year before
Scarlatti died. Yet there is a sort
of progression … Scarlatti's priorities
change and mature, his confidence grows,
new interests take over from others
fully explored.
Indeed it's Scarlatti's immense variety
that - above much else - may strike
a listener who takes the time and trouble
really to listen to one sonata after
another. In appreciating this body of
recordings, which must surely now be
regarded as the preferred set, one will
also marvel at the amount of original
musicological scholarship undertaken
then exploited by Lester - a scholarship
which has firmly underpinned every aspect
of his meticulous approach.
This means that the series as a whole
must be rounded off with a set of three
CDs that attend to 'unfinished business',
as it were. These are variants, recently
discovered works, and unpublished appendices.
Volume VII consists of three CDs and
a total of 57 sonatas (23 on disc 1
and 17 on each of discs 2 and 3) whose
manuscripts are held - not in Venice,
as has been the case for the sonatas
presented in Volumes I to VI - but in
various Spanish, Italian, Portuguese,
German locations, and indeed in the
Fitzwilliam and British Library (Worgan)
collections.
When Scarlatti's first modern champion,
Ralph Kirkpatrick (the 'K' of the Domenico
Scarlatti cataloguing system) was writing
in 1953, he knew of no (extant) Iberian
manuscripts, although he did accept
into a secondary canon a few works not
in the Venice manuscripts. Kirkpatrick's
assumption was that the entire oeuvre,
copied during the composer's last years
(1752-57) and passed on to the singer
Farinelli on Scarlatti's death, was
to be found in Venice and Parma. Then,
prompted by the tercentenary of Scarlatti's
birth in 1985, new sonatas began to
come to light.
Perhaps inevitably, scholars have disputed
some attributions to Scarlatti - of
the K142-144 (CD 1), for example. Lester's
assessments draw on the clear and expansive
notes of W Dean Sutcliffe in looking
at the cases for and against a particular
sonata's inclusion in the canon. The
latter's The Keyboard Sonatas of Domenico
Scarlatti and Eighteenth-Century Musical
Style, CUP (2003) 0521481406 was also
previously recommended here as an excellent
companion source. The judgements of
them both seem good. Inclusive if there
is doubt, which there rarely is.
CDs 2 and 3, on the other hand, include
those nearly three dozen sonatas which
Kirkpatrick numbered (K31-42, K202-206,
K356-7, K452-3, K544-555) but which
were not part of Queen Maria Barbara's
Venice manuscripts.
This final volume is not to be considered
as a set of doubtful curios, though.
The music is uniformly valid in its
own right. And it's as expertly played
by Lester as any other in the entire
sequence. The lively and compelling
rhythms of the dance are as prominent
as ever. Lester elicits subtlety in
such passages and achieves the right
balance between the very sound of the
harpsichord he plays and the music 'beyond'
the sonorities of any one instrument.
The tempi and contrasts of these dance-inspired
works are finely nuanced yet plainly
articulated: listen to the range of
textures and sonorities supporting the
melody, in K K554, and how Lester uses
them with complete confidence. The more
intricate tempi - the halting K33, for
example - are equally deftly negotiated.
There are some exciting, not to say
exhilarating, moments - indeed the opening
of K141 is chromatic, sparse and full
of tension. The handling of both the
onset of this drama and its release
are reminders of just how good a technique
Lester has.
Nothing is dwelt on for too long; at
the same time no opportunity for intrinsic
colour is missed. In common with not
a few other of the sonatas here, there
is scope for some mis-steps - many passages
are overtly percussive. Lester avoids
this trap and keeps one's interest in
the aural palette and melodies as much
as in the insistence of the rhythms.
At the same time he does not let the
pace drop or lag. His tempi in K144
are good examples of this fine judgement.
The same informed restraint Lester applies
(in K35 and K147, for example) to Scarlatti's
repetitions. His playing balances momentum
with delicacy; the ostinati never cloy.
Listen to Lester's tour de force in
K 205 - nearly nine minutes of sustained
balance and measured advance, not missing
a beat, nor over-driving the insistent
progressions. Breathtaking.
These assessments might seem to suggest
that the music in these volumes lacks
melody because it's somehow experimental
or wayward. Far from it. Lester points
Scarlatti's melodic invention up consistently
well: perhaps through his confidence
and familiarity with the music and the
genre as much as anything.
The harpsichord used on this recording
is by Michael Cole after José
Joachim Antunes (1785) with A tuned
to 415 (Valotti). The liner notes -
a little lacking throughout the other
volumes - are fuller here (see above).
The recording is forward, lush and impactful.
Indeed, one criticism that could be
legitimately levelled at Lester's sound
is that it is too bright - a little
too insistently metallic. For some listeners
used to a damper acoustic and/or an
essentially quieter instrument that
will be the case.
Until now the reference recording for
this repertoire has been that of
Scott Ross on Warner Classics (62092).
But it's more than 20 years since
that recording appeared; it comes on
34 CDs. MDT sell this for £85
which represents very good value for
money and could certainly be taken advantage of; Ross' approach and
execution are excellent. Lester's
Nimbus series comprises 38 discs: it
contains more material and makes an
exceptionally good alternative which
cannot be recommended too highly.
Mark Sealey
Richard Lester (harpsichord by Michael
Cole after Jose Joachim Antunes, Lisbon,
1785) 
