Scarlatti: a due

Skip Sempé and Oliver Fortin record Duende - Music by Domenico Scarlatti

On their new “Paradizo” label, Sempé and colleagues are publishing some new recordings, including this first with the music by famous Scarlatti. Most recently, I have been very happy with the richness of Pierre Hantaï’s three Scarlatti releases on Mirare.

This CD is more or less a compilation of “Scarlatti favorites.” Which, if you consider, that the man wrote hundreds of sonatas, why we might want “repeats”? Well, not every one was a hit, and who wouldn’t like a new interpretation of old favorites?

The selections of sonatas is a good one. Some really nice sounding instrument(s) is(are) used, but not quite the percussive, fruity-sounding ones used by Hantaï. (Fruity, here, being a positive term.)

So, what made me buy this, considering that Scarlatti isn’t my favorite composer? When you see multiple harpsichords being used, and the combination of Sempé with Fortin, you don’t wait, you buy the CD. There could hardly be a more sumptuous, more rich, more extravagant sound than multiple harpsichords together. Think of Bach’s great 4-keyboard concerto. Then I think of the Sempé/Fortin release of music by Bach/Vivaldi from several years ago. The few tracks where these guys appear together are (once again) magical.

I only wish the whole CD was dualing/dueling harpsichords, and not just a few select tracks. Here’s hoping for more good things from Paradizo.