Hi,

I have a new recording of the Scarlatti Sonata K535.

Kaila

Scarlatti - Sonata K.535 in D major (4:29)

A wonderful recording Kaila. Everything seems just right. I have nothing to criticize, except, maybe, in the repeats you could have made some little variations. I always like the repeats in Scarlatti but this one seems just a little long, and some variation would have helped.
This one is up on the site. Great work !

Chris,

Thank you for listening and for your critique.
I'm very excited about the results from my most recent Chopin/Scarlatti recordings.

Kaila

Hi Kaila,

This is a wonderful performance! You play with a fine evenness of touch and bring about tasteful dynamic shadings and expressiveness. Great!

I find this sonata to be very tuneful and pleasant to the ear. Scarlatti makes interesting changes between major and minor modes here, and some of the voice leadings take us to unexpected keys to beautiful effect. In some moments too, the piece almost sounds modern! It's hard to figure why in the Baroque world Scarlatti never caught on quite as much as Bach. I'm thinking that part of the answer lies in pedagogy. For Bach there has been that generations-old "progression" from inventions to symphonias to preludes and fugues to partitas, etc. which has become so ingrained in culture as a part of teaching. This automatically leads to performances of those learned works. Yet these Scarlatti sonatas are myriad, so varied and delightful to hear. (And I imagine they are good training for the pianist as well.) I do believe though that over the past 30 years or so, Scarlatti has taken on new life and has been steadily creeping up in the "ratings" as more pianists discover and play his music. Back in the 1980s Anthony di Bonaventura released a Scarlatti LP recording which caused a stir and may have sparked intensified interest in this fine composer which has persisted.

David

This was wonderful!

David,

Thank you for your commentary. You raise some very interesting points.
If I remember correctly, the music of Bach was almost lost past a certain point and it was Mendelssohn who brought it out of obscurity.

Thank you for your kind words about my performance. They are much appreciated.

-Kaila

Raymond,

Thank you so much for your reply and encouragement.

-Kaila

This is terribly belated, but what piano are you using for this terrific recording? The sound quality is first rate.

More precisely, this is sounding like a Steinway. But which model? And year of production? (I've been searching for a decent Steinway of late.)

jg

Hello John,

Thank you for your reply.

Yes, the piano is a Steinway but I'm not the owner. It's available at a local studio where I recorded
with my project manager Kb. I've been told that this instrument was used in Carnagie Hall for many
years, but I don't have any other information.

Attached is a photo from the session and here is a link to my youtube channel with video
performances on that Steinway.

http://www.youtube.com/user/Ketzela001

-Kaila

That settles it. It's a concert grand, which I KNOW my wife would not permit. Thinking of something more like a B. Great piano, obviously. And the engineers have provided you with a first-rate recording!

JG