This two-CD set is a sampler drawn from the set of complete Domenico Scarlatti keyboard sonatas recorded by Richard Lester between 2000 and 2005 and issued in seven volumes. If a full series is executed with care, the listener wanting a sample is often better off choosing a single volume from the series rather than the official sampler, but this one is the exception. It's unusual in several respects. First of all, it was chosen by the performer himself, not by the label. And Lester has taken a delightfully innovative ...
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This two-CD set is a sampler drawn from the set of complete Domenico Scarlatti keyboard sonatas recorded by Richard Lester between 2000 and 2005 and issued in seven volumes. If a full series is executed with care, the listener wanting a sample is often better off choosing a single volume from the series rather than the official sampler, but this one is the exception. It's unusual in several respects. First of all, it was chosen by the performer himself, not by the label. And Lester has taken a delightfully innovative approach to the selection. He had two criteria. One is expected: he chooses sonatas that highlight his particular interpretive emphases. Most important among these are the Spanish features in Scarlatti's sonatas, which many keyboardists skate over but which in Lester's hands could almost accompany a modern flamenco dancer, and the potentially pianistic features: Lester's set has used a variety of instruments he considers appropriate to the music, and four sonatas here are played on a...
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