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On popular demand we reissue his complete keyboard sonatas. By using various (copies of) period instruments Belder has prevented saturation of the listener. And of course Scarlatti demonstrated an unbelievable amount of diversity in these compositions themselves which continue to capture the ear.

This is the most recent and only digital complete edition of Scarlatti’s keyboard sonatas available. A huge undertaking which offers catching and inspired performances of the 555 pieces, varying from utterly Spanish to pre-classical.

Detailing 36 CDs’ worth of first-class recordings, this release is dedicated to the complete keyboard sonatas of one of the Baroque period’s greatest composers and virtuoso performers: Domenico Scarlatti.

Born in 1685, Scarlatti spent the majority of his career in the service of the Portuguese and Spanish royal families – with the latter appointment enabling him to devote his full attention towards composing for the harpsichord. This unusual cultural background accounts for why the Italian’s music, though contemporary with that of Bach and Handel, differs so much in comparison –Spanish dance rhythms (such as the flamenco), and folk tunes with Moorish and gypsy-like flavours, indicate that day-by-day-street life was a great source of inspiration to Scarlatti. Written in single-movement form, the 555 works comprising the collection also reveal Scarlatti’s development of new playing techniques, including note repetitions and fast passages in parallel 3rds and 6ths, not to mention his important pioneering of structures – which in turn point to the impending emergence of the Classical style.

They are performed with gusto by Pieter-Jan Belder, whose assured interpretation does full justice to this important body of late Baroque music.

A selection from the 600 sontas by Domenico Scarlatti (1685-1757) that illustrate two facets of his musical personality.

CD1 depicts the genius of the composer – some of his greatest and most remarkable sonatas have been selected by Carbonara. These works illustrate the exploratory and innovative nature of the sonatas. CD2 gathers together a selection of sonatas that illustrate the gambler, or the reckless side of the composer. These sonatas are just as innovative as those on CD1, but there is a devil may care craziness to some of the music. These are dramatic extreme works that give some idea of the incredible technique Scarlatti possessed as a player, and of his remarkably fertile imagination.

2CDs of Scarlatti sonatas containing some unknown and rarely recorded works.

New recordings made in 2009.

Extensive booklet essay by the artist on each sonata.

Carbonara has recorded Ravel’s complete piano music for Brilliant Classics, and a CD of piano music by Nino Rota. He studied with Andreas Staier, Alicia de Larrocha and Leon Fleischer.

Baroque powerhouse Domenico Scarlatti – son of the great Alessandro Scarlatti and born in 1685, the same year as Johann Sebastian Bach and George Friderich Handel – wrote an enormous 555 keyboard sonatas. These were mostly to be performed on the harpsichord, although several sources suggest that he may have also written some for the fortepiano at the Spanish court, where he was employed from 1733. The universal appeal of these sonatas – containing Scarlatti’s trademark influence of Iberian folk music and dances – is such that they have been pushed beyond the boundaries of the intended instrument, and thus the recording also boasts performances of selected sonatas on the harp and accordion, bringing these wonderful sonatas into the 21st century.

Each of the performers on the recording are leading interpreters on their instrument.

The awards that the performers have won include prizes at the Schubert International Piano Competition (Michelangelo Carbonara), Leipzig Bach Harpsichord Competition (Pieter‐Jan Belder), the Concours International d’Exécution Musicale (Luigi Attademo), as well as the RecordAcademy Award (Mie Miki) and the Dutch Music Prize (Godelieve Schrama) This collection boasts a handpicked selection of these for harpsichord, piano, guitar, harp and accordion.

Recording made in 1998.

Luigi Attademo is responsible for the premieres of rediscovered works for guitar by Tansman, Cyril Scott (Sonatina, Alesandria, 2001), Lennox Berkeley and Mompou.

The 600 or so sonatas for harpsichord by Domenico Scarlatti contain some of the most remarkable music for keyboard from the Barock era. The influence of these works can be detected in the sonatas of Haydn, Clementi, and Beethoven. The fact that these composers, who developed the piano sonata form to new levels virtuosity, and at a time when the piano was a ‘new’ instrument, developing constantly, were influenced by his examples, has lead to many performers re-appraising Scarlatti’s sonatas. How would they sound on other instruments?

The modern concert grand is, today, no stranger to Scarlatti’s sonatas, but the guitar? The great Andres Segovia was one of the first to recognise that many of these sonatas would work for the guitar. His idea was not to imitate the harpsichord (‘a guitar with a cold’ as he famously said, much to the annoyance of the great harpsichordist Wanda Landowska), but to bring out hitherto unexplored textures and colours contained in the music that only the guitar could realise. There wasn’t much in the way of period interpretation or slavish imitation of keyboard practice in Segovia’s approach. It was a marvellously ‘gut feel’ instinctive interpretation that divided opinion. In 1994 Claudio Giuliani attempted (successfully) to navigate a path for guitarists through the purists and Segovia’s opposing positions and published a collection of Scarlatti’s sonatas that lie within the compass of the guitar. On this CD Attademo skilfully demonstrates that the two schools of thought can be brought together – Scarlatti’s genius as keyboard virtuoso, and the genius and instinctiveness of Segovia.

This set contains two CDs of eight charming secular cantatas by Domenico Scarlatti, their subjects, of course, being love or rather the pains and aches it causes. They are on an intimate scale with just one soprano and instrumental accompaniment. Their style – by the first quarter of the 18th century the cantata genre was well past its peak – is extremely refined and at times demanding for the singer.

There are a number of sonatas in Scarlatti’s vast output that can be categorised as ‘melo-bass sonata’. The combination in these of a monodic, figured bass and a highly linear upper part has had contemporary scholars look afresh and consider if these works were intended not for solo harpsichord but for a combination of keyboard and a high melodic instrument. These are delightful reconstructions of what ‘might have been’ and present these solo keyboard sonatas in a new light.

It is possible that Scarlatti knew Vivaldi’s concertos for viola d’amore, and some of Vivaldi’s techniques appear to have been appropriated by Scarlatti, and his polyphonic writing makes full use of the instruments resonances. Certainly the writing fits the viola d’amore very well – especially K88.

Domenico Scarlatti, the sixth child of the celebrated composer Alessandro Scarlatti, was a prolific keyboard composer, and is best known today for his 555 sonatas for keyboard. Domenico was employed by various members of European royalty and nobility in Italy, Spain and Portugal throughout his career. His style was unusual and innovative, but very few of his works were published during his lifetime.

The disc combines several of Scarlatti's keyboard sonatas with Neapolitan songs by various composers of the era, exploring the influences of these songs on Scarlatti's sonatas. Scarlatti's style is notable for its improvisatory nature as well as its incorporation of elements of Spanish and Portuguese folk music (the composer having spent time in Lisbon, Seville and Madrid), and among the Neapolitan songs featured on the disc is the immensely popular Lo guarracino, a fast-talking and high-spirited number that narrates the story of a fish, and the lilting La Nova Gelosia. Two extracts from operas -- 'So' li sorbe e le nespole amare' from Leonardo Vinci's Lo cecato fauzo and 'Chi disse ca la femmena' from Giovanni Battista Pergolesi's Lo frate 'nnamorato -- are also present, both of which feature a light-hearted portrayal of women. Out of the many versions of the song Quanno nascette ninno, the one by the Nuova Compagnia di Canto Popolare was chosen for this disc, thanks to its fascinating minor modulation.

Acclaimed harpsichordist Francesco Cera is considered one of Italy's foremost interpreters of early music. He has toured all over the world and his recordings include interpretations of 17th-century keyboard sonatas, French suites and harpsichord concertos by J.S. Bach. Italian soprano Letizia Calandro's repertoire includes Neapolitan songs alongside the more traditional oeuvres of the Classical and Baroque periods. Having studied at the Santa Cecilia Conservatory in Rome, she won the Spoleto Award and has performed the lead role in operas by composers as diverse as Monteverdi, Mozart and Verdi.

New recording, recorded September 2009, Chisea di S. Anatolia, Colle di Tora, Rieti, Italy.

An original concept: harpsichord sonatas by Scarlatti, alternated by Neapolitan songs.

Domenico Scarlatti, a child of his time, was strongly influenced by the music of his home town Naples, where he heard opera buffa in Neapolitan dialect, tarantellas and ofcourse the characteristic Neapolitan songs. In this recording harpsichord sonatas are alternated by Neapolitan songs by contemporary composers, such as de Liguori, Pergolesi, Vinci and other anonymous composers.

Beautifully sung by soprano Letizia Calandra, and played on the harpsichord by the eminent Francesco Cera.

Harpsichord by Roberto Livi, Pesaro 1995, after Italian anonymous, Naples c.1650 (now housed in the Gemeentemuseum, The Hague). Guitar by Anna Radice, Bologna, after Italian anonymous, early 17th century.

Extensive liner notes included in English and Italian. Sung texts available on the Brilliant Classics website.