Tuesday, August 24, 2010

Scarlatti - Les plus belles Sonates - Scott Ross

 

 

Domenico Scarlatti promThe composer and harpsichordist Domenico Scarlatti (1685-1757), a rough contemporary of Bach and Handel, was born in Naples, the son of the famous opera composer, Alessandro Scarlatti. Domenico worked in Rome as Choirmaster to the exiled Queen of Poland, Maria Casimira, and later as Choirmaster at the Basilica Giulia, St. Peter’s, the Vatican. At the age of 35, he became Court Harpsichordist to the King of Portugal and teacher to Princess Maria Barbara. Scarlatti followed the Princess to Spain in 1729, when she married the future king, Ferdinand VI, becoming maestro  de camera when Maria Barbara became queen. He lived in Madrid for the rest of his life, immersing himself in Spanish folk tunes and dance rhythms.

In addition to being one of the greatest keyboard virtuosos of all time, Domenico Scarlatti is responsible for developing keyboard style, giving it new freedom and introducing technical devices such as rapid repetitions, crossed hands and double note passages. He composed 555 single-movement sonatas that are both exercises and innovative works anticipating sonata form. In the book Five Centuries of Keyboard Music, John Gillespie writes, “If Scarlatti’s music does not strive for profundity, it forever has its elegance. A relentless searcher for brilliant and unusual effects, Scarlatti avoids triviality and aims for an expressive, sometimes dramatic line.”

Scott Ross (1951-1989), the American-born organist and harpsichordist, moved to France at the age of 13 and studied at the Conservatoire in Nice with Madame Huguette Gréy-Chauliac and subsequently at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique in Paris. He taught for a decade in Quebec City’s Laval University, where he also obtained his Ph.D. He subsequently returned to Europe as a performer and recording artist. For Erato Disques he made seven recordings comprising a total of 42 CDs. These included Eight Keyboard Suites of Handel, Keyboard pieces by Jean-Henri d’Anglebert, Six partitas of J.S. Bach, Bach’s Italian Concerto, Chromatic Fantasy and Fugue, Partita and Four Duets, Fandango and Sonatas by Antonio Soler and the complete keyboard works of Domenico Scarlatti. Ross died in France in 1989 at the age of 38 from AIDS.

CD INFO

flac, scans

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