Domenico Scarlatti - Piano Sonatas (Claire Huangci)

Information

Composer: Domenico Scarlatti

CD1:

• (01) [SUITE IN G MAJOR] (K. 13, 124, 125, 144, 454, 470 & 284)
• (08) [SUITE IN G MINOR] (K. 450, 4, 76, 8, 35, 31, 108 & 476)
• (16) [SUITE IN D MAJOR] (K. 435, 140, 32, 491, 490, 397 & 278)

CD2:

• (01) [SONATA IN E MAJOR] (K. 206, 322 & 135)
• (04) [SONATA IN F MAJOR] (K. 518, 213 & 6)
• (07) [SONATA IN A MINOR] (K. 175, 296 & 61)
• (10) [SONATA IN D MAJOR] (K. 443, 208 & 29)
• (13) [SONATA IN G MAJOR] (K. 260, deest, 146 & 427)
• (17) SONATA IN C MAJOR, K. 513

Claire Huangci, piano
Date: 2015
Label: Berlin Classics
https://berlin-classics-music.com/en/releases/domenico-scarlatti-piano-sonatas-2/

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Review

Pianist Claire Huangci has devised an ingenious programme concept for her second solo CD release, a two-disc Scarlatti collection. She divides disc 1’s sonatas into three groups and constructs each group into a plausible Baroque suite. The sonatas within each group not only share a common tonal centre but also correspond, more or less, to the mood and character of typical suite movements (preludes, allemandes, sarabandes, gigues and so on). Similarly, she models disc 2’s groupings after classical sonatas in regard to tonal relationships and the typical fast-slow-fast three-movement paradigm (trs 13 16 add up to a convincing four movement entity). I’m not sure where the final C major Sonata, Kk513, fits into Huangci’s scheme of things, yet the music can certainly stand by itself by virtue of its pastoral demeanour and intrinsic tempo changes. One particularly effective juxtaposition occurs in disc two’s first hybrid ‘sonata’, where the main theme of Kk206 in E major, in steady rhythm, dovetails into the opening three notes of Kk322 in A major without blinking an eye. Huangci’s ordering also illuminates elements in Scarlatti’s music that point to the future, such as the lovely right-hand cantilena of Kk208 in A major, which one could plug into a Mozart sonata without anyone being the wiser.

In order for Huangci to maintain balance and proportion within her superimposed larger forms, she understandably omits repeats, which avid Scarlatti connoisseurs might miss. Yet when you consider her instinctive musicality, unflappable technical command and sensitive ear for nuance, repeats hardly matter. Listen to the astonishing fluidity and centredness of her rapid scales in Kk124, the hypnotic aura she creates and sustains within Kk125’s unusually slow tempo, the insightfully contoured canonic lines of Kk76 in G minor or Kk397’s alluringly blended detached and legato articulations; this is Scarlatti artistry of the highest order.

Granted, one might prefer aspects of other performances to Huangci’s, but she more than holds her own in the company of celebrated Scarlatti luminaries; her disarming way with Kk284 in G major, for example, equals Pletnev for character. It’s gratifying to have followed Huangci’s progression from a 16-year-old prodigy to a 25-year-old artist poised for greatness.

-- Jed Distler, Gramophone

More reviews:
ClassicsToday  ARTISTIC QUALITY: 9 / SOUND QUALITY: 9
MusicWeb International  RECORDING OF THE MONTH
http://www.classical.net/music/recs/reviews/b/ber00603a.php
https://www.theguardian.com/music/2015/jul/05/scarlatti-piano-sonatas-claire-huangci-berlin-classics-gem-like-brilliance
https://www.amazon.com/Scarlatti-Piano-Sonatas-Claire-Huangci/dp/B00UILS96I

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Domenico Scarlatti (Naples, 26 October 1685 – Madrid, 23 July 1757) was an Italian composer who spent much of his life in the service of the Portuguese and Spanish royal families. He is classified primarily as a Baroque composer chronologically, although his music was influential in the development of the Classical style and he was one of the few Baroque composers to transition into the classical period. Like his renowned father Alessandro Scarlatti, he composed in a variety of musical forms, operas, cantatas and symphonias. Today he is known mainly for his 555 single movements keyboard sonatas.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Domenico_Scarlatti

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Claire Huangci (born March 22, 1990 in Rochester, New York) is an American classical pianist. Having completed her study at The Curtis Institute of Music from 2003 to 2007, she continued her musical education at the Hochschule für Musik, Theater und Medien Hannover from 2007 to 2016. Huangci won the Second Prize at the 2011 ARD International Music Competition as its youngest participant, as well as the Concours Geza Anda in Zurich in 2018. She has appeared as a soloist performing with well-known orchestras in Europe, North America and China. Her solo debut recording was published in 2013.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Claire_Huangci
https://clairehuangci.com/en/

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