Pletnev: Scarlatti – Keyboard Sonatas (2 CD, FLAC)

Performer: Mikhail Pletnev
Composer: Domenico Scarlatti
Audio CD
SPARS Code: DDD
Number of Discs: 2
Format: FLAC (tracks)
Label: EMI Classics
Size: 598 MB
Recovery: +3%
Scan: yes

Disc 1:
01. Sonata in D major Kk 443
02. Sonata in D minor Kk 1
03. Sonata in G major Kk 283
04. Sonata in G major Kk 284
05. Sonata in B minor Kk 27
06. Sonata in E major Kk 380
07. Sonata in A major Kk 24
08. Sonata in C sharp minor Kk 247
09. Sonata in F minor Kk 519
10. Sonata in F major Kk 17
11. Sonata in D minor Kk 9
12. Sonata in A minor Kk 3
13. Sonata in A major Kk 404
14. Sonata in D minor Kk 213
15. Sonata in D major Kk 214

Disc 2:
01. Sonata in D major Kk 96
02. Sonata in G major Kk 146
03. Sonata in B minor Kk 87
04. Sonata in G major Kk 520
05. Sonata in C minor Kk 11
06. Sonata in F minor Kk 386
07. Sonata in F minor Kk 387
08. Sonata in A major Kk 268
09. Sonata in D minor Kk 141
10. Sonata in A major Kk 113
11. Sonata in F sharp minor Kk 25
12. Sonata in B minor Kk 173
13. Sonata in G major Kk 523
14. Sonata in G minor Kk 8
15. Sonata in G major Kk 259
16. Sonata in D major Kk 29

Perfection!

This two-disc set received a great deal of praise when it was issued a few years ago, and with good reason: it is without question the most illuminating and ingenious recording of Scarlatti that I know (and I have heard hundreds of them). Although there is nothing “authentic” in this piano recording, in the sense of the pianist returning to original instruments or tuning, the listener does have the sense that Pletnev is connected to the origins of the music. Few people realize that Domenico Scarlatti was a little-known Italian court composer (his father wrotes operas) who went off to Iberia, and who subsequently gained inspiration from the folk music he heard in his exotic posting — the sonatas are in many cases “translations” of the dances and songs of rural Portugal and Spain. That spirit, of song and rhythmic dance and compelling vocal lines, shines through in Pletnev’s reading, in a way I have never heard with other performers. The experience of hearing these pieces is ultimately one of joy and revelation — and it is as good on the 20th hearing as it is on the first! I’ve bought this set a dozen times over for friends … doesn’t that say something? An absolute classic.