Document

  1986
    January 1986
        Instrumental
                D. Scarlatti Keyboard Sonatas.

D. Scarlatti Keyboard [Sonata] Sonatas. Christian Zacharias (pf)

HMV digital (Full price) (LP) EX290349-3 (three records, nas) Booklet included.

Record 1: Keyboard [Sonata] Sonatas—E, Kk162; F minor, Kk481; C, Kk460; D, Kk96; B minor, Kk87; G, Kk454; G, Kk455; F minor, Kk466; F minor, Kk467; E, Kk531. A, Kk39. Digitally remastered (new to UK).

Record 2: Keyboard [Sonata] Sonatas—C sharp minor, Kk247; D, Kk118; D, Kk436; B flat, Kk544; D minor, Kk516; D minor, Kk517; G, Kk124; A, Kk208; A, Kk209; E flat, Kk474; E flat, Kk475. From ESD7183 (5/83).

Record 3: Keyboard [Sonata] Sonatas—E, Kk380; E, Kk381; F sharp, Kk318; F sharp major, Kk319; A, Kk322; A major, Kk533; F minor, Kk183; F minor Kk386; E flat, Kk193; F, Kk296; B flat, Kk551. New to UK.

The set as a whole presents a good variety of texture, pace, mood and key (14 of the 21 Scarlatti used). Many of the sonatas are singletons, some Kirkpatrick pairings are preserved but others are separated, the surviving partner sometimes retwinned (Kk118/436, 183/386). The booklet quotes from Kirkpatrick's comments on interpretation, with particular reference to the piano, finally distilling the advice to give "attention to those qualities not immediately dependent on instrumental sound, to those elements of musical expression common to every medium... line, rhythm and fine-grained harmonic texture". Does this embrace the small and gradual nuances of volume that abound in this set, bringing the music to the edge of Romanticism? Scarlatti added notes to attain greater volume but Zacharias, imposing the subjective on the objective, also adds clangorous weight e.g. in Kk96, 460, 516 and 533. The piano is eminently suited to cantabile and Zacharias exploits ths admirably (e.g. Kk87 and 208) but blandness of tone robs the underpinning chords of their character; during Kk296 I almost fell asleep—marked Andante, it is romanticized at about metronome mark 66. Even the short trills lose their bite. The approach to ornaments is generally sound but many are omitted, as in Kk183 (bar 17 and its counterparts), the main note being smoothed over and given no compensatory emphasis.

The quick-moving sonatas are delivered with clean-fingered technical brilliance (the outrageous leaps are nonchalantly executed) and throughout there is abundant evidence of instrumental mastery in all its forms. Zacharias characterizes all the music sharply, on occasion overly, italicizing its incredible variety and, on the whole, presenting it more convincingly than most pianists; only when his Romantic and pianistic leanings get the better of him does one feel that his translation of the music into keyboard sounds, that Scarlatti could never have heard, becomes downright anachronistic. On an open market the harpsichord remains the first choice, not least for its ability to vary the sound in repeats—all of which are played by Zacharias, but are no more than simple repetitions. The recording is exemplary, though a few thunderous passages come through rather harshly. Both box and record announce Kk434 but the music is that of Kk474, the partner of the following Kk475. There are also two discrepancies in the music itself, both in Kk87: the last treble note of bar six appears as A instead of F sharp, and the sharp is lost from the second treble E of bar 65.

JD



		The set as a whole presents a good variety of texture, pace, mood and key (14 of the 21 Scarlatti used). Many of the sonatas are singletons, some Kirkpatrick pairings are preserved but others are separated, the surviving partner sometimes retwinned (Kk118/436, 183/386). The booklet quotes from Kirkpatrick's comments on interpretation, with particular reference to the piano, finally distilling the advice to give "attention to those qualities not immediately dependent on instrumental sound, to those elements of musical expression common to every medium... line, rhythm and fine-grained harmonic texture". Does this embrace the small and gradual nuances of volume that abound in this set, bringing the music to the edge of Romanticism? Scarlatti added notes to attain greater volume but Zacharias, imposing the subjective on the objective, also adds clangorous weight e.g. in Kk96, 460, 516 and 533. The piano is eminently suited to cantabile and Zacharias exploits ths admirably (e.g. Kk87 and 208) but blandness of tone robs the underpinning chords of their character; during Kk296 I almost fell asleep—marked Andante, it is romanticized at about metronome mark 66. Even the short trills lose their bite. The approach to ornaments is generally sound but many are omitted, as in Kk183 (bar 17 and its counterparts), the main note being smoothed over and given no compensatory emphasis.



		The quick-moving sonatas are delivered with clean-fingered technical brilliance (the outrageous leaps are nonchalantly executed) and throughout there is abundant evidence of instrumental mastery in all its forms. Zacharias characterizes all the music sharply, on occasion overly, italicizing its incredible variety and, on the whole, presenting it more convincingly than most pianists; only when his Romantic and pianistic leanings get the better of him does one feel that his translation of the music into keyboard sounds, that Scarlatti could never have heard, becomes downright anachronistic. On an open market the harpsichord remains the first choice, not least for its ability to vary the sound in repeats—all of which are played by Zacharias, but are no more than simple repetitions. The recording is exemplary, though a few thunderous passages come through rather harshly. Both box and record announce Kk434 but the music is that of Kk474, the partner of the following Kk475. There are also two discrepancies in the music itself, both in Kk87: the last treble note of bar six appears as A instead of F sharp, and the sharp is lost from the second treble E of bar 65.