Pianist Christoph Ullrich continues his Scarlatti series with volume five, comprising K.177 to K.205.
Christoph Ullrich has been recording all of Domenico Scarlatti's 555 harpsichord sonatas for the TACET label on a modern Steinway concert grand piano since 2011.
Four double CDs have already been released: Volume 1, Volume 11, Volume 14 and Volume 15. (TACET 199, 212, 215 and 218). A new double CD will be released every year. The project is expected to be completed in 2028.
Scarlatti's one-movement sonatas have only been preserved in copies made under his supervision. During his lifetime they were compiled in 15 volumes, which - with two exceptions - contain 30 sonatas. Scarlatti's long-time patron and gifted student, the Spanish Queen Maria Barbara de Braganza bequeathed these volumes to the castrato Carlo Broschi, who also worked at the Spanish royal court - known by his stage name Farinelli - who brought her to Bologna. After his death, his entire estate was scattered, but fortunately the 15 volumes ended up in the Biblioteca Marciana in Venice in 1835.
This bundle of 496 sonatas, which had been copied between 1742 and 1757, was preceded by the 30 Esercizi, so called by Scarlatti, which he dedicated to Maria Barbara's father, King Jose V of Portugal in 1738 as thanks for the accolade. These works are assigned to the sonatas because they do not differ formally from the works written later and thus lead the long series of late piano compositions by Scarlatti.
The numbering of the sonatas follows the list by Ralph Kirkpatrick (K. 1 - K. 555). The individual volumes each contain the sonatas of one of these central 15 Venetian volumes as well as the Esercizi. Additional sonatas preserved in other collections and libraries are inserted according to their chronological order - following Kirkpatrick's counting.
The musicological support of the project is Thomas Seedorf, who will contribute to each volume an article on a complex of questions about the work and life of Domenico Scarlatti as a booklet text. Further articles and information on the life and time of Domenico Scarlatti are published on this website at irregular intervals.
