Scarlatti, D: Keyboard Sonata K25 in F sharp minor

“Purists allergic to Scarlatti on the piano needn't hesitate. Mikhail Pletnev seems to relish the Steinway but his range of tone is ravishing and his playfulness is captivating, and both outweigh any Romantic indulgences.” BBC Music Magazine, June 2013 ****

“Every so often a major pianist reclaims Scarlatti for the piano with an outstanding recording. As Ralph Kirkpatrick put it, Scarlatti's harpsichord, while supremely itself, is continually menacing a transformation into something else. True, the relation of the music to harpsichord sound could hardly be closer, and it wouldn't have been composed the way it is for a different instrument.
Scarlatti is marvellous at suggesting imaginary orchestrations and stimulating the imagination.
He makes us aware of different vantage points as the music passes before us, of the different tones of voice and rhetorical inflexions – as various in these sonatas as the events in them are unpredictable.
There are dances, fiestas and processions here, serenades, laments, and evocations of everything from the rudest folk music to courtly entertainments and churchly polyphony; and as the kaleidoscope turns you marvel at the composer who could embrace such diversity, shape it and put it all on to the keyboard.
Pletnev's playing is strongly individual, and his free-ranging poetic licence may not be to your taste. Not that his spectacular virtuosity is likely to be controversial: this really is hors decatégorie and enormously enjoyable. And the evocations of the harpsichord are often very witty, but he doesn't shrink from using the full resources of the piano, sustaining pedal included, and if you baulk at the prospect, he may not be for you. The sustaining pedal is certainly dangerous in music that's almost wholly to do with lines, not washes of colour; it can make us see Scarlatti as if through Mendelssohn's eyes. Yet moments of such falsification are rare. Characterisation is everything, and though he can be coy in the reflective sonatas, he generally goes straight to the heart of the matter. The vigorous, full tone in the quick numbers is a joy, and most admirable is the way he makes sound immediately command character.
Superb recorded sound.” Gramophone Classical Music Guide, 2010

“Pletnev establishes a firm pianistic approach...The performances throughout are in the very front rank.” Penguin Guide, 2011 edition

“Domenico Scarlatti's fusion of Italian and Iberian styles dazzles in this artfully programmed recital...It's a playful performance, as impressive in its moments of introspection as it is in those of extrovert brilliance.” The Independent on Sunday, 3rd June 2012 *****

“Cerasi's recording builds a sense of a deeper Scarlatti, a composer filled with delightful musical quirks and oddities, at turns wheeling, ruminative and bumptious. It is a well-plotted disc, capturing the full range of the composer's moods...With Cerasi, there are no false steps...In short, Cerasi's disc is [a] delight and will please longtime Scarlatti collectors as much as it entices newcomers to explore further.” Gramophone Magazine, July 2012

“…overwhelming, brilliant and passionate music-making” International Record Review

“The astonishing technical variety and wide emotional range contained in Domenico Scarlatti's keyboard sonatas make each and every encounter a rewarding adventure in which the listener is seldom left untouched. Hantaï's playing is wonderfully responsive to the wealth of expressive nuance...” BBC Music Magazine, September 2005 *****