Javier Perianes on the cover of his new album (from the YouTube Web page for this recording)
At the beginning of this coming October, Javier Perianes will come to Davies Symphony Hall to serve as the soloist in a performance of Edvard Grieg’s piano concerto. There is a good chance that, for his encore selection, he will turn to the keyboard sonatas of Domenico Scarlatti. This “informed guess” is based on the fact that, this past Friday, Harmonia Mundi released an album of Perianes playing fifteen of the 555 sonatas cataloged by Ralph Kirkpatrick.
My interest in those sonatas dates back for over a decade. During my tenure with Examiner.com, I wrote about the Warner Classics release of the complete canon, as well as maintaining a “progress report” on albums released individually by Carlo Grante. While I am unlikely to undertake the entire journey again, I enjoyed the “sampling” that Perianes offered in his new release.
Those that take the full canon of these sonatas very seriously will probably want to know not just Perianes’ selections but also how he chose to order them. Therefore, while I seldom do so, this account deserves a track listing:
- K. 491 in D major
- K. 141 in D minor
- K. 185 in F minor
- K. 492 in D major
- K. 238 in F minor
- K. 193 in E-flat major
- K. 128 in B-flat minor
- K. 466 in F minor
- K. 125 in G major
- K. 263 in E minor
- K. 386 in F minor
- K. 462 in F minor
- K. 380 in E major
- K. 447 in F-sharp minor
- K. 448 in F-sharp minor
Those familiar with the films of Ingmar Bergman are likely to look forward to Track 13, since K. 380 contributes to the humor of The Devil’s Eye. Some listeners may feel a bit miffed about having to wait too long for this sonata to make an appearance, but Perianes’ account is worth the wait!
In reviewing past articles, I was a bit surprised at how many of them involved guitar performances. Personally, I continue to prefer the preference for period instruments in the “complete works” account by Scott Ross for the Warner Classics collection. It used to be that Vladimir Horowitz enjoyed including Scarlatti in his solo recitals, but I seldom encounter interest in his legacy these days. Suffice it to say that Perianes is as sensitive to the diversity of dispositions in Scarlatti’s keyboard music as Horowitz was in the last century.
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