Scarlatti, D: Keyboard Sonata K1 in D minor

Scarlatti wrote no less than 555 keyboard sonatas, all of them true gems thanks to their melodic and rhythmic inventiveness. They use many of the harpsichord’s subtleties and appeal to the whole of the agility and imagination of those who endeavour to play it. Racha Arodaky simultaneously displays her great virtuosity, her artful eloquence and her intimate knowledge of baroque music throughout this disc.

IRENE SCHARRER, though perhaps the least remembered of the major Matthay pupils, was the earliest to record, beginning in 1909 at the age of 21.That in itself is a credit to her early fame, which she established through an extrovert, but always musical, virtuosity.

She excelled in such works as the Chopin Etudes, nine of which she recorded, and in other brilliant pieces such as those here by Scarlatti and Liszt, but the poise and refinement of her Chopin nocture or the slow movement of the Mozart sonata reveal another side to her playing that is sadly underrepresented on disc. Her final recording, of the Litolff Scherzo, was also her most famous; in its day it was a best seller and was responsible for putting that work on the musical map. This set reissues for the first time all Scharrer’s electrical recordings and also an example of every work she recorded in the acoustic era (pre 1925) that was not later remade as an electrical recording. For completeness, a discography of all her other acoustic recordings is also included.

Smaro’s extensive research has revealed significant differences between the modern classical guitar and those of the Renaissance and Baroque periods – encompassing instrumental design and construction, string materials used, number of string courses, wide-ranging tuning schemes, etc. Such extensive variants make for a broad array of tonal qualities and colors as well as different technical and interpretive approaches.

Playing modern replicas of period instruments built by luthier Yorgos Kertsopoulos, Smaro performs transcriptions of well-known music by Bach, Handel and Scarlatti with exceptional skill and panache. Such “reinvented” guitars enable her to demonstrate many different tonal and interpretive possibilities of the period that – until now – have gone unheard. This release – as Classical Sentinel said of her first album – is certain to become “A fascinating CD for any classical music enthusiasts; a definite must-have for any serious classical guitar fans.”

Reference Track

Analytical presentation of all tunings; samples of program pieces performed on the standard classical guitar in nylon trebles and ordinary tuning

Zuzana Růžičkova, an exceptional personality upon whom the critics conferred the title “First Lady of the Harpsichord”, continued the pioneering efforts Wanda Landowska had made to get the harpsichord recognised as an independent concert instrument. The path she took was co-determined by her lifelong relationship to Bach, whose complete works for harpsichord she has recorded, and along it she was also accompanied by a number of friends she regularly met: Karel Ančerl, Gideon Klein, Sviatoslav Richter, Josef Suk.

She hasn’t, however, remained merely a Bach specialist: in addition to early music, she has recorded all the classic modern harpsichord works, including Poulenc’s Concert champetre and her beloved Bohuslav Martinů’s Concerto for Harpsichord, awareness of which she helped to raise all over the world. A number of pieces have been written directly for Zuzana Růžičkova, among them compositions by Jan Rychlik and the remarkable Sei invenzioni canonici per cembalo by Viktor Kalabis, whom the harpsichordist was married to for over half a century.

This representative selection from Zuzana Růžičkova’s highly acclaimed discography is Supraphon’s way of marking her 80th birthday. The overwhelming majority of these recordings are appearing on CD for the very first time. The perfect way to mark Zuzana Růžičkova’s 80th birthday – a harpsichord feast ranging from Bach to the 20th century.

This CD gives us a tour of 18th Century Italian harpsichord music, both historically and geographically. It includes works by Durante and Cimarosa, both from Naples, Martini from Bologna and Galuppi from Venice. Roberto Giordano performs throughout the world and a film-portrait of him has been broadcast in many countries including the UK.

Reissue