Melómano de Oro for the CD "Scarlatti: Venezia 1742"

La Tempestad has been awarded the Melómano de Oro by Melómano magazine for its recording of sonatas by Domenico Scarlatti in arrangements by Silvia Márquez.

The important musicological work carried out here deserves special mention. The sonatas recorded on this album display particular features that mark a departure from what Scarlatti had been doing. The arrangements are intelligent and apt. We find instruments alternating and violin and traverso engaged in dialogue, as in the Sonata en Mi menor K. 81, respecting the principle of contrast and variety. These sonatas show a structural novelty compared with earlier ones, consisting of two to four movements. Even so, we are also given the Sonata en Sol mayor K. 79 (Allegrissimo), in a single movement and for keyboard, as was usual for the composer, masterfully performed by Silvia Márquez.

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REVIEW

MELÓMANO MAGAZINE | MAY 2019 | Enrique Pastor Morales Following in the footsteps of his father and mentor, Domenico Scarlatti was a harpsichordist and the composer of an extensive corpus of sonatas. Venezia 1742 gathers some of those he wrote after moving to the other peninsula, working as music teacher to María Bárbara de Braganza in Portugal, and later at the Bourbon court.

The important musicological work carried out here deserves special mention. The sonatas recorded on this album display particular features that mark a departure from what Scarlatti had been doing. Chiefly in the writing of the score, apparently for keyboard, as was already usual with him, but with sparse figured-bass indications in the continuo and some positions that are practically impossible for the right hand yet perfectly feasible on the violin or the mandolin, very popular in Italy. This suggests that these were works intended for a small group of instruments, and that is what we find here.

The arrangements are intelligent and apt. We find instruments alternating and violin and traverso engaged in dialogue, as in the Sonata en Mi menor K. 81, respecting the principle of contrast and variety.

Different densities have been achieved in the basso continuo. At times the keyboard sounds alone, while at others the double bass and the cello join in to create a powerful, expansive sensation, supporting the dynamic effects of crescendo and diminuendo.

These sonatas show a structural novelty compared with earlier ones, consisting of two to four movements. Even so, we are also given the Sonata en Sol mayor K. 79 (Allegrissimo), in a single movement and for keyboard, as was usual for the composer, masterfully performed by Silvia Márquez.

These sonatas, described as ‘archaic’ by La Tempestad, show us the version of a Scarlatti far from Italy, the theatre and the opera, in search of greater tranquillity and creative freedom, but who in this case leaves us with works of rather little innovation in style, perhaps because they were intended for his pupils at court.

LINKS

Review in Melómano Digital: Domenico Scarlatti: Venezia 1742

CD Scarlatti "Venezia 1742"