Thank you! I had exactly the same thought about this unusual and wonderful piece!

It’s made by the American maker Robert Hicks. He really knows what he’s doing.

Thank you, although I have to say that I love Scott Ross’ performance and tempo too. That’s what I like about Scarlatti’s generic tempo markings, such as “quick” (presto): it is open to different approaches, even by the same performer, on different days, depending on mood, etc…

Thank you! Your question is a great one, and from what little is known, probably his desire to keep composing was the main factor in his churning one out every week or so. His patron was the Spanish royal family, so one might imagine he was set up decently from a financial perspective 🙃

Thank you so much, and I love the allusion to the Mozart K. 332. Hadn’t thought of that but I can hear it for sure. My instrument has a typical Iberian disposition of 2x8’ strung entirely in brass. A Z-box is more than serviceable as an introduction to the harpsichord for a pianist. The antique harpsichords and their modern replicas have even lighter and more sensitive actions…

@@davidlouie my Zbox has all of the modern conversions done, so the keys are extra light, and it’s very lightly quilled already. I can’t even feel the action under my fingers; much more difficult to control than my piano. It’s lovely because my heart condition keeps me from playing piano sometimes, but I’m still able to play the harpsichord since harpsichord technique is more compatible with my health than piano technique is. I got the Zbox for free in amazing condition, and I went through it to put it in even better condition (of course I made a short video series about it). I do want a French double someday, but space and availability is the issue for now. In college decades ago I was responsible for the harpsichord…double manual with seven pedals, and it had four choruses: 4,8,8,16. Playing through the four strings was a beast; very opposite my Zbox. I had to tune it, too, and I needed to realize Vivaldi’s Four Seasons for my whopping 0.5 course credit! Looking forward to the next Scarlatti video!

@@seancregomusic thanks for the background on your Zbox and how harpsichord is safer than piano for your health. I do understand that. I‘ve always found 20th century revival instruments to be frustrating to work with, though a simple Zbox for free can only be a win, as things go 😂 these days. Would worry about an instrument however that one cannot feel the pluck, such as when it is masked by the key weight (or the peculiar geometry of the mechanism). The tactile sensation is highly important-that’s how a sensitive touch is developed!

@@davidlouie I learned to understand that very quickly about touch, and I can certainly feel the pluck. You probably already know this, but you can upgrade the jacks and guide rails on the zbox, and the counter weights on the keys are drilled out so that the touch is much lighter and you can feel the quill plucking the strings. When the zbox was first introduced, they kept the keys heavy to be more like a piano for pianists, but that completely defeats the purpose. When people try my harpsichord, I tell them to let gravity pull their fingers through the key, but they beat on it anyway, and hearing the jacks thump into the jack rail is so sad. 😞

Yes, quite true, it does have that vibe, and only a bit of what we recognize as characteristically Scarlatti. Probably it’s one of his earliest keyboard pieces that he preserved for inclusion for his first publishing venture. A fine piece nonetheless.

@@davidlouie i see

Thanks, and I agree those sequences are fabulous, and completely Iberian in flavour!

That’s beautifully said, I can hear what you are saying in the music also. This one is probably relatively unknown, but still a gem as many of the lesser-known ones are…

Thank you so much! I appreciate listeners who listen meaningfully!

@@davidlouie Thank you David and thanks again for the great work!

Thank you so much 😊. Modern interpretation of the word “allegro” as “fast” is largely influenced by later composers’ usage. As an Italian speaker, Scarlatti was not using “allegro” to indicate “fast” (that word is simply “presto”).

@@davidlouie thank you so much for this explanation, and it makes sense, litteraly "allegro" just means joiceful and you can be joiceful and quiet !

You’re most welcome, and many thanks for your comment!

That’s a great comparison, I quite agree! Many thanks 🙏!!

Have you recorded Scarlatti's sonata K121? It is an extravagant piece - and sounds really complex! On the internet there is a recording courtesy of Mathieu Dupouy. It is one of my favourite Scarlatti sonatas. I love the dissonance ... which is so dramatic! And although I am not a musician, I would say Dupouy plays it extremely well.

Actually, I say "dissonance" ... yet maybe not - but it is an exciting piece, and proceeds at a furious pace!

@@GregoryVincent-d9u ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-4h-tJogU_yQ.htmlsi=tOXyfxENAfb9nGOO

Thanks for your comment! This one is certainly obsessive with the arpeggios, and that seems to the main challenge from a compositional perspective. Every sonata is Scarlatti’s experiment, and no two are exactly alike. Picking favourites (or non-favourites) is fun for the listener, as if from an ice cream shop with 555 flavours! I rather enjoy this one, can’t really say why. At least I believe it is a successful compositional experiment. Good composers rarely write something that doesn’t contain at least something of interest or merit. I’ve been generally recording in the order of Scarlatti’s Parma series manuscript. So the choice is essentially his, not mine.

Thanks so much, glad you enjoyed it!

Thank you so much ❤️

No it’s not Scarlatti’s hand, but the scribe was certainly working under his direction and authority, most likely copying the composer’s manuscript (now lost).

Yes that’s correct

Thanks so much for your comment. K. 261 is in the works. It has some extremely difficult repeated notes 🥵

Yes the Argerich version is extraordinary and not surpassable in terms of what she brings to it. It is almost a different piece on harpsichord; glad you enjoyed it!

That's certainly true of the popular music . . . but then on the other hand what we're hearing in this video isn't from what was the popular music of its time. And today you can find some new good classical music being written, and played in videos on RU-vid. Classical music DID have a bad slump during the middle and late-middle 20th Century, but now it's getting good again. I suspect that the recent great radiation is driven by (somewhat) affordable sequencing and sound synthesis software that actually sounds good, but that can't be the whole explanation, because the revival of good sound was already starting in the 1990s (maybe even 1980s), well before such things existed.

That’s an overly generous compliment, but much appreciated 🙂

Thank you so much for your comments. I agree this one and its pair k. 208 are sublime and represent a ‘perfection’ of the form. I don’t have any particular favourite but these are definitely special.

@@davidlouie Fantastic work David. Cheers

It’s definitely not easier, but it’s what the composer instructs in the score. Kirkpatrick wrote about this particular case in his book and explains it well.

That’s great, because if music were candies, these would be it! Random selection is probably as good a place to start as any. Thanks for commenting!

Wow, thank you!

Thanks so much for your very observant comment! Your eyes are good 😊! There is evidence that it had become common to use a mixture of ‘old’ and ‘new’ fingering, even during Scarlatti’s time. Certainly many passages in his sonatas require a modern approach to fingering.

@@davidlouie yes, I just finished going through Couperin’s book, and I found it amusing that a lot of the “Baroque fingering” that we’re supposed to be familiar with really isn’t all that different from modern fingering, aside from extended scale passages. That being said, I spend most of my time with Renaissance music where it’s way more “strict” the to point where you have to make sure your paired fingerings change on the beat and not syncopated. But it matters because the sound is so very different!

Something else that I noticed: Reading CPE Bach's Essay, he says to NOT use 3 crossing over 2 (even though they certainly DID use that fingering before CPE Bach's time), so I am wondering if Scarlatti, being Italian, still would have used that fingering as you are using it yourself, given Scarlatti was alive during most of the same time. Very interesting!

@@seancregomusic Interesting question. I think it’s a matter of comparing the fact that these two great composers and keyboard masters (CPE Bach and Scarlatti) had different approaches to their art in that one wrote a comprehensive essay explaining the theory behind it and the other did not. But in the end they achieved the same heights, and as all great composers have in common, their achievement is not quantifiable in any regular or consistent way. One gets the impression from CPE Bach’s music that he broke his own ‘rules’ on occasion, and from Scarlatti’s that he invented his own in direct contradiction to what others might consider ’correct’.

@@davidlouie ya, that’s how I’ve always thought about it, despite my professors debating me on it in college 30 years ago. So, it’s nice to hear you say it. You’re more of an expert than I am, despite my own credentials!

Many thanks for noticing and for commenting 🙂

You’re most welcome, and many thanks for your comments as always!

Many thanks, the manuscripts are on IMSLP. The Parma series is here: imslp.org/wiki/Manuscript_Collection_of_Harpsichord_Sonatas%2C_I-PAc_F.Psi.I.48_(Scarlatti%2C_Domenico)

Thanks!

Thank you for your comments and perceptive observations, much appreciated!

Thank you so much. The temperament is my interpretation of Bach’s temperament. The chords you are referring to have added (or altered) notes for dissonant colour and accent. Possibly derived from a folk music technique (guitar), but figures rather often in Scarlatti’s harpsichord music.

@@davidlouie Very interesting. They are notated as grace notes in my edition which i always thought would mean they only sound very briefly - but i think rather than letting go it sounds so much better as a fat and dissonant chord. Another question for you re temperament- do the loopy figures at the top of the cover page of the manuscript of the WTC bear any relation to your tuning system? As you must know, some have hypothesised that they are an algorithm for the “Wohl” temper!

@@richardedmond7107This is an early piece. The grace notes make their function clear but later he didn’t bother with this notation and just wrote the extra notes into the chords. My interpretation of Bach’s temperament is here: davidlouiepiano.com/index.php/bach-louie-temperament/

Will check out your paper. Sorry I only acknowledged your kind reply now. A month later I can’t help but come back to this haunting little sonata. It has a quality I find hard to describe. Insistent and bittersweet. Thanks again for your superb recordings of the glorious Scarlatti

You're so welcome!

Thank you so much for complimenting the instrument. The name of the maker is Robert Hicks, and he has a deep knowledge of harpsichord sound.

Aha no worries. Top end is crystal clear and the bass is so sonorous and penetrating. I’m blasting your recordings! Where is Mr Hicks based?

Haha, many thanks! Robert is based in Vermont, USA