Search - Scarlatti, Gustav Leonhardt :: Scarlatti: Sonatas

Scarlatti as it should be played

Jurgen Lawrenz | Sydney, Australia | 06/07/2010

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Let me say first of all that playing Scarlatti on the piano is a mistake. No arguments: Scarlatti wrote this music not for a keyboard instrument, but FOR THE HARPSICHORD - which is a plucked instrument! And he did so exploring and utilising all the resources of that instrument, and among the hundreds of unique harpsichord effects he demands from his players, virtually none can be accomplished by a pianist.

Few artists therefore actually manage to enter fully into the spirit of Scarlatti's music. He was an Italian, but obviously absorbed a great deal of Iberian culture, its rhythms, colours, the climate and (not least) the sex appeal. All this went into his music, a veritable treasure trove of excitement. Gustav Leonhardt has the measure of all this. He plays on an authentic Ruckert instrument, very powerful and resonant, magnificently recorded. Leonhardt has the sensitivity to do justice to the moody inventor, the aggressive virtuoso, the flippant conversationalist and the would-be Spaniard in the bullring. For me the highlight of this album is K490-2, a three-movement sonata of such vibrancy it might leave Vivaldi gaping with astonishment.

If this album was published elsewhere, the label "Great Recordings of the Century" would be plastered all over it. But we know that half of those recordings (if not more) are anything but great. This is. Don't hesitate."