Search - Scarlatti, Lee :: Scarlatti: Complete Keyboard Sonatas, Vol. 10

More Scarlatti Sonatas in the Growing Naxos Series

J Scott Morrison | Middlebury VT, USA | 09/10/2008

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Now comes Volume 10 of Scarlatti piano sonatas in the wonderful series from Naxos. This one is played by Colleen Lee, a young Hong Kong pianist now resident in Germany, who is not to be confused with another pianist in the series, Soyeon Lee, who recorded Volume 8 to almost universal acclaim. Scarlatti: Complete Keyboard Sonatas, Vol. 8



This volume begins with six sonatas in a row in either D Major or D Minor (K29,18,23,41,53,45); this seems an odd arrangement, particularly since none of the sonata selections form the usual major/minor pairs seen so often in Scarlatti recordings or performances. The first of these, K29 in D Major, is a sparkling Presto with many interlocking passages in thirds and Scarlatti's patented chugging left-hand chords, along with the wide leaps that are both the delight and despair of pianists. The second, K18, is also a Presto and although in a minor key does seem a sibling of the first. The third, K23 in D Major, is one of the better known sonatas. To be honest I like Weissenberg's coruscating way with it better than Lee's; hers is more legato and just a little earthbound. The fourth, one of my favorites on this CD, is K41 in D Minor. It is a winsome fugue played by Lee with apt delicacy. The booklet writer, the ubiquitous and always helpful Keith Anderson, suggests that this sonata may have been written 'originally with organ in mind', which had never occurred to me but which fits with the sonata's style. A beautiful performance of a beautiful piece. The fifth sonata in D, K53 in D Major, features a striking left hand trill and hands crossing in an antiphonal pattern. (This gives me the opportunity to set to rest a myth about Scarlatti. It has often been said -- the source is the indomitable 18th-century writer on music, Dr. Charles Burney -- that Scarlatti grew too fat to play those of his sonatas with extensive hand-crossing. But pictures of him in his latter years show him to be of normal girth. And, as well, his later sonatas have just as much hand-crossing as the earlier ones, like this one from 1742.) The final sonata in D, K45 in D Major, features syncopated (almost 'ragged') entries by the two hands and some clever canonic writing.



As of the date of this review, Amazon does not list the precise contents of the CD, so I shall do so: The CD continues with another eight sonatas (K74, AMaj; K81, Emin; K90, Dmin; K95, CMaj; K134, EMaj; K136, EMaj; K408, BMin; K555, FMin.) Outstanding, to me, among these sonatas are the two very unusual sonatas -- long ones -- comprising four sections played without pause: K81 and K90. They each begin with a Bach-like aria followed by an allegro, then another movement marked 'Grave' (or in the case of K90, no tempo marking but a style that matches the 'Grave' of K81) followed by a rumbustious Allegro. Colleen Lee plays both of these compound sonatas with grace, style and a singing legato. Her leggiero playing in the fast movements could, in truth, be a bit more finespun.



K95, with its left-hand triplets, its singing melody, and its numerous hand-crossings has been one of the more frequently played sonatas. Lee gives it an innocence and buoyancy that accentuates its childlike joy. K134 has not only hand-crossing but many repeated notes, that bane of many Scarlatti players. It is followed by K136 that has handfuls of chords built on thirds alternating with passages with leaps and arpeggios. K408 is notable for its mixing of duple and triple meters and much imitative writing. The last on the disc is K555, fittingly as it is Scarlatti's last sonata (1757), is in 6/8, highly polyphonic and not, dare I say, particularly distinctive.



Colleen Lee studied in her native Hong Kong and at the Hannover Hochschule für Musik und Theater with Arie Vardi. She was sixth-place winner in Warsaw's 2005 Chopin Competition. This is her second CD, the first recorded under the auspices of the Fryderyk Chopin Institute in 2006.



Scott Morrison"

Best yet in the Naxos Complete Scarlatti

Eloi | Ely, NV USA | 05/03/2009

(5 out of 5 stars)

"The opener is one of Scarlatti's flashiest sonatas, #29 of the Essercizi, and Colleen Lee plays it perfectly. But because it's all swagger, Lee doesn't bother with repeats--just one of many fine musical decisions. The second sonata on this recording, also from the Essercizi (the first 30 sonatas in the Kirkpatrick numbering and the only sonatas published by Scarlatti, in 1738), has more substance and Lee does take the repeats. She doesn't play Italian style but tosses out some bling out in the repeat of the second section (m 33-34) in what becomes her characteristic method: filling in scale passages.



So right away my two main quarrels with the Naxos complete Scarlatti series are answered. In this recording, the mindless, unvarying repeats are gone. Now what, personality?



The third track, K 23, is also from the Essercizi and is one of the two or three sonatas on this recording from the Scarlatti "canon." So Lee goes mano a mano with Landowska, Kirkpatrick, Horowitz, and countless modern performers and bests them all in a lively performance that brings out the lines better than anyone else. It quivers!



Lee doesn't play ornaments exactly on the beat and tends to play "echo" softer phrase repeats in a manner once thought to be a true stylistic expression of baroque sensibility. But she does know how to play detached notes and make them work in a melodic line.



Track 4 is a fugue that Kirkpatrick thought antedated the Essercizi. Most Scarlatti fugues suck the air out of the room, but Lee's soft-loud creates some of the texture contrasts that make Bach fugues work.



Track 6, K 45, is another canon sonata, and Lee plays it well by not overemphasizing the contrasting octave passages. She lets the voicing do the work.



Tracks 8 and 9 are close to the nadir of Scarlatti sonatas. Deployment in slow-fast, slow-fast form suggests a very early response to a concerto format that was already passé in Scarlatti's heyday at the Spanish court. And that's the drawback to this recording project--Scarlatti's most mediocre had to show up some time in a complete sonatas recording, and here they are. Colleen Lee does the best she can.with B-grade material, but her limpid performance of K 95 (probably not by Scarlatti) sets listeners up for a lively performance of what Kirkpatrick called Scarlatti's last sonata, K 555.



Colleen Lee may not be in the front rank of Scarlatti interpreters, but she projects a real personality. I searched for her other performances on the net, and found nothing. The booklet ties her in with Chopin performance prizes. Indeed, her performance on this disc seems much like the way I'd imagine Chopin himself (who knew of and admired Scarlatti) might have approached these sonatas.

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Colleen Lee Plays Scarlatti Sonatas

Robin Friedman | Washington, D.C. United States | 04/26/2009

(5 out of 5 stars)

"The 555 keyboard sonatas of Domenico Scarlatti (1685 -- 1757)are an inexhaustible delight, whether played on the harpsichord or on the piano. The budget-priced Naxos label is in the midst of recording the complete Scarlatti sonatas on the piano with each volume performed by a different pianist. This series offers an outstanding opportunity to explore Scarlatti's sonatas in depth, rather than to hear the handful of works that generally appear in recitals consisting of a single CD. The series also offers the opportunity to hear talented young pianists and to explore different ways of performing Scarlatti.



The virtues of the Naxos project are all on display in this, the tenth volume of the series, performed by Hong Kong pianist Colleen Lee. Lee (b. 1980) was a finalist in the 2005 International Frederick Chopin competition and she has concertized widely in Europe, Asia, and the United States. Her first recording was a CD of Chopin, and Lee is obviously comfortable with a romantic style of playing. She brings a romantic touch to her Scarlatti performances, with substantial use of the pedal, a great deal of legato, rhythmic flexibility, and a willingness in places to embellish the scores. She offers a lovely recital on this, her second CD.



One of the joys of Scarlatti is that there is always something new to hear. Many of the fourteen sonatas on this CD will likely be unfamiliar to listeners without an in-depth knowledge of the composer. The 14 sonatas have the strong Spanish flavor, insistent rhythm, wide intervallic skips, sudden harmonic moves, and hand-crossings characteristic of the composer. But each piece offers something new. All but two of the works on this CD are relatively early, by which I mean they have a numbering of under 400 in the Kirkpatrick ordering of the sonatas.



Most of Scarlatti's sonatas are in a binary form -- consisting of two sections each of which is repeated. Before hearing this CD, I was unaware that some of the sonatas are not binary. The sonatas in E minor, K. 81 and D. Minor, K. 90, are in a four movement form, with odd numbered slow movements and even numbered fast movements. Both works also include a thorough-bass line. It was a delight to get to know these unusual works on this CD.



A sonata with which I was familiar was K. 95 in C major, which I played when I was young. This is a little work with a left-hand triplet accompaniment, and a rapid, lilting and ornamented theme which requires the right hand to make large crossings over the keyboard. This work is not often performed, and I was pleased to hear it again. Another relatively familiar work is the D minor sonata, K. 18, a lively piece with long runs, offbeat notes, and extensive passages in thirds up and down the keyboard.



Other works I enjoyed that I hadn't heard before include the opening sonata in D major, K. 29, with its curlicue scale passage at the opening and subsequent bravura elements. The sonata in D minor, D. 41, is, for Scarlatti, a surprisingly contrapuntal work. It is a slow, meditative fugue, of a type that I would associate more with Bach. But it remains a work in which Scarlatti remains his own composer. The sonata in B minor, K. 408, is a relatively late work with a light yet melancholy touch and additional use of counterpoint and echoes between the hands. And the final work on this CD, the sonata in F minor, K 555, is, in the Kirkpatrick catalog, the last of the sonatas. It opens with a stacatto and pointed descending theme which soon becomes contrasted with a lyrically haunting answer. This piece is a worthy conclusion to the cycle, and I had not known it before.



Listeners wanting to broaden their knowledge of this enigmatic keyboard composer will enjoy Colleen Lee's recital of Scarlatti together with its companions in the ongoing Naxos series.



Robin Friedman



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