All these years building this web site; and the guitar has been left out. It must be my fault!
The other day at the Visitors’ Information Centre where I volunteer, a lady who is also a volunteer shared her love of Classical guitar with me. Hence I made a couple of Segovia CDs for her, and in the listening realized I like the guitar more than I thought I did. So all of you Classical guitar lovers – please accept my apologies for this belated Posting.
Here’s Andres Segovia playing some Scarlatti and Handel.
Scarlatti and Handel guitar
Scarlatti: Sonata in G major, K. 391/L. 79
Handel: Menuet I and II from: Suite in G Minor, HWV 453
Reading how Scarlatti was admired by Horowitz, Chopin, Brahms and others; I had a look in my files and found I only had 2 pieces by him! Quite an oversite. So I downloaded a collection of his sonatas played by Yevgeny Sudbin. Scarlatti (b. 1685 d. 1757) was born the same year as Bach and lived 7 years longer.
Scarlatti’s 555 keyboard sonatas are single movements, mostly in binary form, and are almost all intended for the harpsichord (there are four for organ, and a few where Scarlatti suggests a small instrumental group). Some of them display harmonic audacity in their use of discords, and also unconventional modulations to remote keys.
555 keyboard pieces! Wow. Well here are just 4 of his Sonatas. The first two “exuberant” and the next two “thoughtful”.
Yevgeny Sudbin_01_Keyboard Sonata in B flat major, K 545
Yevgeny Sudbin_03_Keyboard Sonata in F minor, K 365
