Soler, A: Keyboard Sonata No. 118 in A minor

The harpsichord music of Antonio Soler is to a great extent overshadowed by the keyboard works of his near contemporary Domenico Scarlatti, music master to Queen Maria Barbara of Spain. Soler though, rightly claims a prominent position amongst those few select composers who became beacons of the Classical Enlightenment and whose music possessed elements of genius. At the age of twenty-three Soler took Holy Orders, entering the Escorial as a Hieronymite monk in the Order of Saint Jerome where he remained in relative confinement for the rest of his life. His existence at the Escorial is well documented by a colleague who wrote an extremely detailed obituary notice, describing a man who loved his cell and was always there except for duty. Whilst at the Escorial, Soler studied with José de Nebra and Scarlatti. Soler’s output of around 200 harpsichord sonatas were written for the Infante don Gabriel, whom Soler taught from around 1765. The sonatas on this CD can be pigeonholed into three categories: the dance (sonatas R21, R118, R43 & R92d). Those which are slower and more vocal in nature (R4 & R110) with a hint of the melismatic expression found in cante hondo: a pure form of Andalucian folk music. And those which lean towards the new ‘galant’ style (R56 & M27). There are also frequent echoes of the guitar punteado and rasgueado styles, R86 & R43 which are also related to the dance.

Luigi Boccherini was born in Lucca, Italy in 1743 and was renowned as a composer and ‘cellist. In 1761, Boccherini went to live in Madrid where he was appointed music master to the Infante Luis Antonio, and he would certainly have met Soler. This version of Boccherini’s fandango, from the last movement of Quintet No 4 in D major, is Richard Lester’s own arrangement for two harpsichords.

Spanish composer Padre Antonio Soler is most celebrated for his keyboard sonatas, writing over 120. They have been compared to those of Domenico Scarlatti, who it is assumed he probably studied with. Some of his sonatas are reminiscent of the dance music of Spain, shown not only in their abrupt, immediate juxtaposition of keys and typical Spanish rhythms but also in the many ornaments in the tradition of Castilian and Catalonian folk music.

Marie-Louise Hinrichs has long been fascinated by these works and for the first time on CPO presents a sensational interpretation of Soler’s sonatas.

Having scaled (for Brilliant Classics) the musical Everest that is Domenico Scarlatti's 555 keyboard sonatas, Pieter-Jan Belder now turns his attention to his Spanish contemporary, Antonio Soler. Solers productivity was hardly less astonishing, especially as a monk at the abbey of El Escorial required to spend much of his time either in contemplation or directing the abbeyÂ’s music. In this capacity he would most likely have met Scarlatti, as the latter accompanied his royal patrons to their summer retreat at El Escorial. SolerÂ’s keyboard sonatas are also bipartite constructions, with new twists of harmony and invention around each unexpected corner. This first volume is completed by one of the most curious of all harpsichord works, a Fandango with a slowly evolving, hypnotic effect that has more than once been compared to Ravel's Boléro.