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See Terms & Conditions for p&p rates. | |  | Scarlatti Illuminated
plus: SCARLATTI/TAUSIG Sonata in G minor, Sonata in C, Pastorale in E, Sonata in F minor SCARLATTI/FRIEDMAN Gigue in G, Pastorale in D
A Scarlatti recital with a twist. Joseph Moog has assembled a fascinating survey of Scarlatti sonatas, and included a selection of the 18th-century master’s works as re-composed by some of the giants of the piano keyboard from the 19th and 20th centuries. The drama contained in Scarlatti’s short one-movement sonatas has always exerted a hold over both musicians and listeners since their composition. The development of the piano in the 19th century provided too great a temptation for composer pianist Carl Tausig, a rival of Chopin and star pupil of Liszt (and admired by Brahms and Wagner) to ignore these works. He, along with Ignaz Friedman (1882–1948) exploited drama and poetry in Scarlatti’s music, using the new grand piano to its full extent. Friedman was a pianist of extraordinary gifts, and a musical freedom that some thought bordered on the eccentric. Walter Gieseking’s fantastical composition on a theme by Scarlatti forms the centrepiece of Moog’s recital. Gieseking (1895–1956) was a child prodigy, playing all 32 Beethoven sonatas from memory at the age of 15: "The most difficult part was memorising them," he said, adding "and that wasn’t very difficult." Gieseking’s 'Chaconne on a theme by Scarlatti' is a stupendous work of dazzling virtuosity. “Great pianists have often been fascinated by baroque music, and have sought to bring it up to date through transcriptions. Until now I had not heard such versions of Scarlatti sonatas, however, and their full-blown orchestral textures are quite a shock...Moog's bright, sharp pianism sounds better in the originals: the arrangements need more gentle, rounded warmth.” The Observer, 3rd February 2013 “his [Moog's] well-balanced singing tone is always enchanting. It’s hard to find any faults with this Scarlatti cornucopia.” Pianist Magazine, April/May 2013 “Inn essence Moog's 'illumination' interleaves straight performances, often delivered with chaste clarity and dexterous fingerwork, with respectful augmentations by Tausig and more exuberant makeovers by Friedman...Ultimately, a disc more diverting than illuminating - despite Moog's incontestable flashes of pianistic brilliance.” BBC Music Magazine, May 2013 *** “The Gieseking is the most interesting thing here...Moog’s essay suggests he deserves some credit for tracking down the various unconventional arrangements we hear. This may not be Horowitz but it’s very well worth any Scarlatti lover’s time.” MusicWeb International, 26th April 2013 “whether you consider Scarlatti 'illuminated' or obscured, you will surely delight at such enterprise and performance as finely shaded and imaginative as they are dexterous.” Gramophone Magazine, May 2013 | 
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| |  | D. Scarlatti: Piano Sonatas Volume I15 Keyboard Sonatas
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| |  | Emil Gilels: Early Recordings Volume 3All tracks recorded in the USSR, 1935-1955
Emil Gilels played a sonata by Scarlatti at his first public concert in 1929 and included them in his tours to the West in the 1950s. These recordings present a splendid group of the composer’s widely contrasting moods. Gilels was a true virtuoso in the Lisztian tradition, combining musical integrity with rarely equalled technique. The Fantasia was one of the works with which he won the First Soviet All-Union Competition in 1933, while his recordings of the Hungarian Rhapsodies and three works by Chopin are full of character and personality. A recently discovered notebook in which Gilels logged some of his recording sessions has made the dating of these recordings more accurate in this edition. Ward Marston, audio restoration engineer “Few pianists have possessed a more comprehensive, magisterial technique or musical integrity than Emil Gilels...And here, in Naxos's third volume, you will at once hear those salient characteristics that prompted awe and envy among Gilels's finest colleagues...[His Liszt] is overwhelming in its pulverising strength and brilliance.” Gramophone Magazine, September 2012 “Outstanding early Gilels, with some superb Liszt including his legendary Figaro Fantasy from 1935. The Scarlatti Sonatas may not stand the test of time so well, but this is a must.” BBC Music Magazine, Christmas 2012 ***** | | | (also available to download from $9.25) | In stock - usually despatched within 1 working day. |
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| |  | Alexandre Tharaud plays Scarlatti
“I love the extravagance, the sunny glow, the light touch of Scarlatti,” says French pianist Alexandre Tharaud, whose second Virgin Classics release is a collection of the composer’s captivating and adventurous keyboard sonatas. His first release, the Chopin recital Journal intime was described by The Guardian as “altogether breathtakingly beautiful”. “Listening to Mr. Tharaud's crisply articulated and vividly etched playing, a listener might guess that he is a Baroque specialist who, for some reason, prefers the modern piano to the harpsichord. But … Baroque music is only one of his interests,” wrote the New York Times in 2005. In typically imaginative fashion, Tharaud combined early Romanticism with the Baroque over the 2009-10 season when he toured a recital programme of works by Chopin – the subject of Virgin Classics release, Journal intime – and selections from Domenico Scarlatti’s canon of 555 keyboard sonatas. “I love the extravagance, the sunny glow, the light touch of Scarlatti, who shares with Chopin a precise sense for ornamentation, a culture of beauty in sound and an intimate rapport with the audience,” he says. Tharaud’s previous exploration of the Baroque repertoire has focused on composers such as Couperin and Rameau, whose music is rarely heard on the modern piano. The tradition of Scarlatti on the piano is much more firmly established – Vladimir Horowitz, for instance, would often include his music in recitals – but Tharaud draws inspiration from developments in historically informed performance over the past 30 years. As he told the French magazine Télérama: “I am not sure that authenticity is conferred by a specific instrument, but rather in the way new life is imbued into this music … Baroque musicians have taught us to approach tempi and ornamentation with a sense of freedom, even audacity.” Scarlatti, born in Naples, spent more than 30 years of his life serving the royal families of Portugal and Spain and died in Madrid. His sonatas are concise, captivating one-movement works in binary form, often adventurous in their use of harmony and modulation, and frequently inhabited by the exotic spirit of Iberian folk music. “Whether on a broad canvas or on a miniature one, Tharaud’s feel for tonal colouring and his eloquence of expression are a perfect match for this inspiring, kaleidoscopic music.” That praise from the Daily Telegraph could almost apply to works by Scarlatti, but in fact came from a review of Tharaud’s Chopin album, Journal intime. More specific in its frame of reference was The Guardian’s comment on the Chopin disc: “Alexandre Tharaud explores a huge emotional range in his Journal intime, including the most thrilling and propulsive first ballade since Michelangeli's version, with a deeply intense C sharp minor nocturne at the heart. Tharaud lifts the music across the bar-lines with deft rubato, his sound clear, shining and sensuous; altogether breathtakingly beautiful.” “Tharaud's attention to musical detail is, as ever, combined with total spontaneity. The recorded sound adds warmth and this is a wonderfully original reimagining of repertory and instrument.” The Observer, 30th January 2011 “The biggest surprise on this wonderfully exuberant and exhilarating disc comes with the very first notes: the piano tone is rich and full...There's never a dull moment, and Tharaud's range of touch and colour, and his sheer enthusiasm, shine through every jewel-like piece.” The Guardian, 3rd February 2011 ***** “The fact that Scarlatti used the same two-part structural template for all his sonatas is camouflaged by his vast imaginative range, a fertile mind that Tharaud taps and illuminates absorbingly in this recital...The diversity is captivating and Tharaud is a consummate master of it.” The Telegraph, 11th February 2011 ***** “if Tharaud is evidently aware of the stylistic insights afforded by the scholarly diggings of the past few decades, he's unrepentantly pianistic in his approach...Tharaud's is playing with personality, revelling in Scarlatti's playful inventiveness and pungent harmonic daring.” BBC Music Magazine, March 2011 ***** “The range is extraordinary, from the almost casual, plaintive charm of the K132, with its elegant trills and thoughtful progressions, to the dashing Iberian brilliance of the K420, and the more virtuosic manner of the K72 - three wildly differing explorations of the key of C major, handled with a deft, easy grace and an appropriate dash of wit.” The Independent, 18th February 2011 **** “Tharaud’s choices make for an exhilarating rollercoaster ride between dizzying feats of heady bravura and more gentle moments where introspection and quasi-operatic cantabile playing are required...The playing and musicianship of this young Frenchman are dazzling throughout.” Sunday Times, 27th February 2011 ***** “Tharaud commands an impressive range of timbres and articulations with a crisp technique which enables him to express melodic tenderness as tellingly as hard-edged brilliance and clarity.” Gramophone Magazine, April 2011 “The tipsy downward flourishes which interrupt the singing line of K132 suggest Tharaud improvising dreamily in a tapas bar. Best of all is the tiny two-minute aria which forms K32, a gorgeous moment of calm which hints at what Bach’s keyboard music might have sounded like had he lived in warmer climes. The close-up recording adds to the fun.” Graham Rickson, The Arts Desk, 7th May 2011  BBC Music Magazine
Instrumental Choice - March 2011 |
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| |  | Yuja Wang - Transformation
On the heels of her impressive Deutsche Grammophon debut recital album, pianist Yuja Wang’s return recording for the label – Transformation – categorically demonstrates that she is a young master of the Steinway. Her new album excites with a demanding recital that includes some of the most electrifying pieces of piano literature – Stravinsky’s Pétrouchka, Brahms’s Variations on a Theme by Paganini, Scarlatti’s Sonatas in E and B minor, and Ravel’s La Valse. Yuja Wang’s ability to take her music by storm is tempered by a sophisticated musicality that never distorts the line. Transformation highlights Yuja Wang’s penchant for piecing together high concept programs the public adores. As The New York Times observes, “She seems to have everything: speed, flexibility, pianistic thunder, and interpretive nuance.” “Wang makes light of even the fiercest complexity...she has a dazzling way of lightening even the heaviest textures so that her entire performance gleams with an astonishing brilliance and verve....you will find her as musically beguiling as she is breathtakingly fleet.” Gramophone Magazine, July 2010 “The brilliant Chinese pianist dazzles with more than technical panache. She understands what she plays; she’s sensitive and has poise. She’s also a clever programme builder, successfully mixing shape-shifting works by Stravinsky, Brahms and Ravel with two Scarlatti sonatas.” The Times, 29th May 2010 **** “The Petrushka movements...have a unique fizz and excitement and quite the most orchestral range of colour I've heard...Her poise in the two Scarlatti sonatas is admirable, the textures beautifully transparent, the interplay of voices superbly balanced...Altogether one of the most stimulating recitals I've heard this year.” BBC Music Magazine, July 2010 ***** “[Wang] approaches repertory staples with original, illuminating ideas. Her sharp articulation and the deftness with which she moves between thunder and sparkle yield vivid performances of Stravinsky and Ravel, a searching account of Brahms’s Variations on a Theme of Paganini and uncommonly graceful readings of two Scarlatti sonatas.” New York Times, 26th November 2010 | | | In stock - usually despatched within 1 working day. |
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| |  | Horowitz: The Legendary Berlin Concert18th May 1986
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| |  | Scarlatti: Keyboard Sonatas
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| |  | Horowitz plays Scarlatti
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| |  | Horowitz in Moscow
“In 1986 Horowitz returned to his native Russia for the first time in more than half a century. He's seen here performing, being interviewed and chatting with old family members. Touching and with some extraordinary playing.” BBC Music Magazine, July 2006 **** “The return to his homeland in 1986 by the world's most famous living instrumentalist after an absence of 61 years caught the public imagination. …the 83-year old Horowitz's arrival in Moscow prompted the kind of reception reserved usually for pop stars. Brian Large's Emmy Award-winning film captures all this well... Few have conjured from a piano such a palette of tonal colours with such convincing imagery and musical imagination as Horowitz does in this recital. The audience listens with rapt concentration. A man sits motionless with tears streaming down his face in Träumerei. Unforgettable.” Gramophone Magazine, February 2006 | | | In stock - usually despatched within 1 working day. |
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