favorite Scarlatti Sonatas recording?

[lelle]

Hey everyone,

I'm 32 years old and it's finally time. Time to familiarise myself with the collected Scarlatti sonatas. I only know less than a handful including the famous one woth repeated notes.

To that end, I want to know "the best" or your favorite pianist and recording for the Scarlatti sonatas.

Thanks!

[liszt-and-the-galops]

including the famous one woth repeated notes.

Honestly, K. 141 (repeated notes) and K. 120 are the only ones that I've properly listened to. In terms of favorite recording, HJ Lim for K. 141 and "don't have a favorite" for K. 120.

[frodo10]

John Browning plays 30 Scarlatti sonatas is maybe my favorite played on piano.  I mostly listen to the 555 played on harpsichord.  I wish youtube had all 30 on 1 link.  Browning doesn’t take any repeats so he can get 30 sonatas on 1 CD.

Here are a few singles:

1

1

&index=2

This link has 5 of the 30 sonatas.

From Wikipedia: “Scarlatti himself seems to have overseen the publication in 1738 of the most famous collection, his 30 Esercizi (Exercises).”  Note: these are Scarlatti’s K1 through K30 as numbered by Kirkpatrick.  All 30 are great.  K30 is his “Cat’s fugue” if I remember correctly.  The first link above is from this set of 30 Esercizi.

[lelle]

John Browning plays 30 Scarlatti sonatas is maybe my favorite played on piano.  I mostly listen to the 555 played on harpsichord.  I wish youtube had all 30 on 1 link.  Browning doesn’t take any repeats so he can get 30 sonatas on 1 CD.

Thanks, will take a listen! I love harpsichord so much I'd like to own one, one day. Which recording do you listen to with the 555?

[frodo10]

Thanks, will take a listen! I love harpsichord so much I'd like to own one, one day. Which recording do you listen to with the 555?

I think there are only 2 recordings of the complete 555: Scott Ross that I listen to and some other guy.  I wish I had a list of my favorite 10 sonatas.  Maybe the next time I listen to all 555 played in Kirkpatrick "K" numbering order, I will make such a list.  Will be tough to do. 

Here is K1 through K99 - over 5 hours worth.  Listen to the 1st 30 that I mention in my prior post.  Have fun!

[lelle]

I think there are only 2 recordings of the complete 555: Scott Ross that I listen to and some other guy.  I wish I had a list of my favorite 10 sonatas.  Maybe the next time I listen to all 555 played in Kirkpatrick "K" numbering order, I will make such a list.  Will be tough to do. 

Here is K1 through K99 - over 5 hours worth.  Listen to the 1st 30 that I mention in my prior post.  Have fun!

Perfect, thanks so much!

[swilliams002]

I believe Ralph Kirkpatrick himself also recorded a large number of the sonatas, if not all of them. I mostly listen to piano recordings though. Maria Tipo is amazing:

I also recommend Clara Haskil and Yevgeny Sudbin.

[swilliams002]

By the way, here is a list of all the Scarlatti Sonatas, with Kirkpatrick, Longo, and two other catalogue systems (F and P, but I can't remember whose names those stand for): https://www.pianolibrary.org/composers/scarlatti/works-sonatas-by-kirkpatrick-numbering/

I own the 11 volumes of the Longo edition, which I love, although it is not "urtext." Longo isn't complete, there are about 10 sonatas missing if I recall. The volumes that I have were previously in the ownership of a certain music scholar named Hoboken... anyone recognize the name?

[frodo10]

I believe Ralph Kirkpatrick himself also recorded a large number of the sonatas, if not all of them.

Kirkpatrick only recorded 60 of the 555 I believe.  Pieter-Jan Belder is the other harpsichordist other than Ross to record all 555 that I am aware of.  Belder recorded them after Ross over a 7 year period.  Ross took about 2 years to complete.  Naxos is close to completing or has competed recording all 555+ sonatas on piano.  There are maybe 25 different pianists recording these - some are excellent, some are not very good IMO.  I stopped buying these after getting maybe first 25 cd's after they started including sonatas that are not part of the Kirkpatrick 555 and maybe were written by Scarlatti, maybe not. 

[swilliams002]

Kirkpatrick only recorded 60 of the 555 I believe.  Pieter-Jan Belder is the other harpsichordist other than Ross to record all 555 that I am aware of.  Belder recorded them after Ross over a 7 year period.  Ross took about 2 years to complete.  Naxos is close to completing or has competed recording all 555+ sonatas on piano.  There are maybe 25 different pianists recording these - some are excellent, some are not very good IMO.  I stopped buying these after getting maybe first 25 cd's after they started including sonatas that are not part of the Kirkpatrick 555 and maybe were written by Scarlatti, maybe not.

Okay, good to know about Kirkpatrick. I also am not such a fan of some of the Naxos Scarlatti recordings. Like you say, they're a mixed bag.