My question: Is Scarlatti traditionally meant to be smooth and connected, or is it appropriate to play the sixteenth notes stacatto? I need to know so that I can come up with appropriate fingerings. Thanks much!
I'm currently working on the Scarlatti Sonatas, and the edition I own doesn't give its own fingerings. (It's something like the Kirk Patrick edition, or something, but I don't have it with me, or I'd give you the numbers of the sonatas I'm working on as well. I'm sitting in the computer lab during my Physics class, 'cuz I'm not taking the final! )My question: Is Scarlatti traditionally meant to be smooth and connected, or is it appropriate to play the sixteenth notes stacatto? I need to know so that I can come up with appropriate fingerings. Thanks much!
Ralph Kirkpatrick! That's it. Thanks. And yes, it does have a very lengthy preface. The issue on fingering is that a lot of Scarlatti's stuff has measures of successive sixths and thirds with a busy left hand, and I'm having difficulty finding a fingering that's smooth. 1/4 - 5/2 doesn't seem to work, but that could also be an issue of needing more practice.Tell me what ya' think. Thanks!
Perhaps he was a little like Haydn in that sense - did he(haydn) not claim that being away from the hubub of Viennese cultural life in Esterhazy had 'forced him to become original.'?Being part of a Royal court must have been only relatively 'obscure' even in the 18C, but nonetheless it obviously allowed for a free hand in these cases - where it might concievably have been merely stiflingly conservative and restricting. Bernhardt, - do you know, please, if the Gilbert edtion is currently in print? I have been trying to track it down. I have a hungarian edition of 200 of the sonatas which is quite a well edited urtext and reasonably priced, from Chappells in London. The binding is irritating though, as it is sometimes hard to read the score where the pages join(!) Off topic I know but incidently I have been reading some of the threads where you talk about practice techniques, and have been heartened by your notion of exploiting the unconscious. I think it should be studied and applied across many areas of education, as it is a greatly underused resource. In my own work as an artist (painter, not performer) it is something I have only slowly come to understand the value of across time - the idea that not working is an essential part of work. I like the way you suggest using it in a systematic and consistent way, and will start trying it at the piano directly. Thanks. Did I read somewhere that Neuhaus used to tell his students '..in summer we learn to skate.'
bernhard - sorry formisspelling your name above
Greetings !It has been wonderful reading all the information about Scarlatti in the many threads of the forum.I’m working on Scarlatti K.141, initially from John Sankey’s version. I had queries about the rhythm of his measures 34-36, and the b flat in the intermediate part of his m135 which I addressed to him. He very kindly replied saying “Everything is the way Scarlatti wrote it, in what is believed to be his personal copy.” While awaiting his reply, I acquired the EMB edition of the sonata from which I am presently working. There I found the answers to my queries. Has anyone else noticed what I thought were these anomalies in the Sankey version?I wish to thank Bernhard for suggesting the Naxos site. I found that as a free member I could only listen to 25% of any recording, so I became a paid-up member and listened to several renditions of the sonata on the Naxos site by Chang, Szokolay and Lewis. Elsewhere I found a recording by Gilels.Gilels’ rendition includes 2 additional measures after what is measure 117 in the EMB edition. These 2 extra measures make this section (m.113-123) of the sonata a replicate of a previous section (m.40-52). Also, the performers differ on how they render the bass in m.126, 130, and 134. The EMB edition in m.126 and 134 has the bass rise a major second on the third beat but not in m.130. Some performers played all three measures with bass rising while others did not.If anyone has access to Gilbert’s authoritative edition (costs 85,40 euros in Paris i.e. 58£ sterling), I would be curious to know what is indicated for these locations. Thank you in advance for any light shed on this subject.Béryl
The truth of the matter is that no one knows how to play Scarlatti.
What to think about Sankey's edition?The same about Padre Soler's "scores" at www.chateaugris.com
Scarlatti's sonata F sharp minor, K. 142 , its pdf, does not exist in Longo edition (www.piano.ru/scarlatti.html) But is wonderful. Would someone provide us with K. 142 - Pestelli 240, its pdf?