Scarlatti sonata in D minor K 52

[arpeggiosnake]

Tips? Pedaling?

This pieces sounds easy but isnt easy at all ¡¡¡

I need a lot of control to play it. Please help me

[bernhard]

This is a most beautiful and lyrical sonata that needs plenty of space to unfold, so do not play it too fast.

Structurally it is a three voice (mostly - a fourth voice intrudes here and there ) invention, so as a first step rewrite the score on three (or four) staves so that each voice is isolated and clearly visible.  Learn each voice separately and thoroughly before joining them.

The main difficulties here are the same as for any counterpoint piece: independence of the voices (implying an independence of the movements specific to each voice), and memorisation (not only of notes but of fingers and movements).

Spend most of your time working on this piece figuring out the fingering (fingering will make or break this piece), and the distribution of voices between the hands. Only after you have decided on these two issues start serious practice at the piano (so that from the very beginning you are ingraining the correct fingers/movements).

There is practically no ornamentation in it, so at least you do not have to worry about this particular nightmare.

Finally, the more specifc your question, the more useful the answer.

I reckon this piece to be around grade 7.

Best wishes,
Bernhard.

[bernhard]

And yes, it is all right to pedal, but sparingly.

[amanfang]

Do you improvise ornaments in Scarlatti?

[bernhard]

Handel, Bach and Couperin were not at all happy with ornament improvisation in their pieces, and went to great pains to give very specific directions on how they wanted their pieces ornamented. Performers of the time were livid, since this was their prerrogative ("Composers" hmpph! Who they think they are! ). On the other hand, it is thanks to these three that we today know much about Baroque ornamentation practice.

Scarlatti on the other hand, either could not be bothered with providing unambiguous directions, or he truly did not care (and was perhaps curious and excited to see what perfomers would come up with). He uses ornament signs like "tr" and the wavy line, as well as little notes, but nowhere does he tells us if the little notes are apogiaturas (and how long they should last) or acciacaturas. tr and the wavy line are used inconsistently, and we never know if the ornaments start on the main note or not, nor for how long. In short it is all informed guess work.

Scarlatti was a prodigious virtuoso of the keyboard (there are accounts of a  famous duesl between him and Handel, where Handel was declared the best of the organ, but Scarlatti was considered unsurpassable on the harpsichord), who innovated deeply and widely on keyboard technique. So it is very likely that he himself improvised not only the ornaments, but most certainly in the sonatas themselves, and it is well possible (the same case has been argued for Mozart sonatas) that the scores that came down to us are just "skeletons" or guidelines, in the same way that fake books just give the outline for the jazz musician to improvise.

So, yes, I would say that one should improvise ornamentation if one feels prepared and inclined to do so.

Best wishes,
Bernhard.

[arpeggiosnake]

I reckon this piece to be around grade 7.

Best wishes,
Bernhard.

Thnaks a lot for your tips, however but i dont think this sonata is around grade 7...maybe grade 8