Por paradójico que parezca, Maria João aúna lo sencillo y lo sublime en un toque insólito que pocos saben dar a este compositor, a menudo, tenido por trivial. Ahí radica el talento de esta maestra incomparable.
Her expression in the phrase is the closest thing to a speaking voice . The simplest 2 notes here many of us can't begin to approximate it's like a breath and the small rises and all the little details that tell us we have a true musician devoted to musicality .Watching he teach the Beethoven eroica variations I cried when she showed a student the organization of the 16th notes in the harmonic background in the left hand had to sound pulseless , [NO TIME ] "All time is yours " she says in this passage which is also very necessary in middle and late Beethoven op.53 ,many places in op.57 countless music after op.79 . It scares me to think if one doesn't have the imagination all the technique and knowhow in the world will not provide great musical thought!!! YEs , her depth , her freedom from the tryanny of the beat and measure . Such thoughtfulness makes her music making spiritual .Peple alwasy talk about Lipatti and Haskil so they must have known this too .Ultimate freedoms obey the law you cannot have rubato without a pulse .this is a difficult thing in music ! Forget Cortot there is only Pires now !
I love Scarlatti and this is played so tenderly and with the utmost joy and emotion by Maria. This is the pinnacle of beauty to me :-) Thanks so much for posting! ~Jackie
Pires is musically a vibrant , unique performer . She's tough but ideally I don't know how this small woman managed to build a world -wide respected career ina world full of fire-breathing virtuosi and innovative tricksters making Bach sound new ! It's a testament to her personality , talent , and ideals . How did she unearth this really most glorious Scarlatti sonata . 550 and I'm still discovering wonders that Pletnev, Michelangeli , Horowitz , Gilels,Scott Ross,Hantai,K.Gilbert,Pinnock and a thousand others have not put before us . This one - WOW ! Another world and time but communicates humanly N O W !
So much fuss about it! Zacharias recorded it over 30 years ago and this Pires version adds nothing to that one. Very strange that you missed it, speaking as you do, like an expert Scarlattian. It is a rather known Sonata, one of the most usually played due to its apparent simplicity. Look for it in Spotify, for instance, and you'll find scores of versions (and fairly good ones, many of them, since it is so clearly and frankly written that it is not hard to catch the soul of it)
@@miguellunagrande6529 Thankyou. I haven't heard Zacharias in anything but Mozart. So kappy to hear he has recorded Scarlatti . Will find this . I'm indeed no expert in anything though i try orchestration my piano training didn't go far enough .This k.208 seems to go so far out like vocal music -indeed .
Half of this video's views are mine, I swear lol...Maria performed this piece so well that it's hard not be moved, tbh I don't think I'd ever get tired of this, masterfully played with such delicate poignancy, bravo! If anyone's wondering, the piece, Sonata in A Major, K.208 is by the Baroque Italian composer D. Scarlatti.
"One thing we can say about music is that we can do our best to grasp it and teach it, but there will always be one thing missing this way - grace - the unexpected miracle which gives music its true worth. This ‘je ne sais quoi’ is what drives the composer to compose. It is grace which invites the musician- body and soul- to master his instrument and deepen his understanding. It is grace which attracts music lovers to come to concerts, to be part of a precious and unique event: the communication of this certain something, which is part of everyone’s make-up. The requirement for this ‘transmission’ is not only aesthetic, but ethical: music, like all art, is part of the mystery that shapes humans." [Maria Joao Pires]
bravo maria joao.... keep playing, please.... always.. “To be great, be whole; Exclude nothing, exaggerate nothing that is not you. Be whole in everything. Put all you are Into the smallest thing you do. So, in each lake, the moon shines with splendor Because it blooms up above.” ― Fernando Pessoa. Para ser grande, sê inteiro: nada Teu exagera ou exclui. Sê todo em cada coisa. Põe quanto és No mínimo que fazes. Assim em cada lago a lua toda Brilha, porque alta vive. ― Fernando Pessoa. you inspired my music and my life @2-nY
Easy to play the notes but impossible for many of us to speak it as MUSICAL THOUGHT !!! What she does here is I think remarkable compared to so many who make careers out of playing Scarlatti . Nows I want to rehear Weissenberg, Horowitz and the perfection of Pogorelich's DG account. I have never heard such perfection in studio recording(where anything can be made to sound miraculous ) as Pogorelich gets . I don't think its humanly possible to get the sound, attacks etc. from a piano as the recording suggests . I wish more knowledgable pianists would talk about what is doable on some recordings and what is not possible .
Pablo D Of course Maria Joao IS THÉ BEST pianiste and also a great humain beeing I vas thé great pleasure To meet her twice in Brussels after a concert she impressed me a lot by her simplicity and kindness
Pablo D I don't agree, her style is too delicate and more evocative of Chopin than Scarlatti or Bach. One of the best exponents of Scarlatti was Wanda Landowska, but of course this was a very long time ago Personally, I see Ritarno Akamatsu as the most brilliant pianists there is today. He has an amazing technique, and musicality, compared to many of the up and coming pianists some of whom seem very concerned with a showy style and exhibitionism.
Maria João Pires, for me, should be heard (witnessed/experienced) live or at least through an exquisite recording (and certainly on a great prepared piano). Otherwise you loose in any extent this gem pianist and end up listening "only" a great pianist.
Yes, you made a mistake, but 206 is even more of a wonder than this one; it is as deep, dark and cristal-clear at the same time as a dream under the orange blossoms of a Spanish garden in a spring night. Try it, discover a hidden gem or whole treasure (Perahia has a decent version of it-or Scott's one, though the metallical sound of the harpsichord is not the right thing for it... in my opinion, of course)
Luis de Orueta, pues claro que era consciente, hablas como si lo que dejó escrito fuera todo lo que tenía en mente y corazón. Como si todo lo que no da una versión midi y metronómica lo pusiéramos nosotros, los post-románticos contemporáneos. Estoy seguro que no, que entonces no se anotara la dinámica y la agógica no significa que no existieran. Scarlatti tenía una forma de escribir para clave que “suple” , en cierto modo, el problema de la falta de dinámica de este instrumento que sólo contaba para eso con el recurso de los dobles teclados y a veces los registros. Por eso, la versión expresiva y en piano es, en mi opinión, la correcta, porque del pozo seco nadie saca agua cristalina. Si no, prueba a tocar Los Pajaritos o el Porompompero a lo romántico, ya verás como no hay dios que lo arregle 😜
There is no such thing as a text in music. You can't write all the things you want to be played precisely. Some composers tried (debussy, satie...) but in earlier pieces there is nothing told to do. Pianists must find their ways it's the only reason why they keep playing others' pieces. Their is enough pleasure in finding in others' pieces something we can feel finely. She is doing an amazing job here.
She is not making changes. I am reading the score and she is following it faithfully. Of course every performer is free to play the ornaments as they wish. Besides there are alternative versions of most of Scarlatti´'s sonatas (a real mess for scholars to solve) and perhaps you have a different version.
This is almost pedant, clear and mathematical and I can better understand it than like for example Milkina playing Scarlatti (just listened). No rush, just calm... People are so different!
Iivari Dark Not played in the right spirit, this is not music from the Romantic Period,. She is not accustomed to music for the harpsichord, and may never have played on one, she has greatly misinterpreted the playing of Scarlatti.
How is it with 550 of these Sonatas being investigated at least since Tausig I've never heard anyone play this one. You'd think it would be anthologized everywhere.Kirkpatrick must have recorded how could it not have completely captured Horowitz or pogo or landowska or anyone who's made selections. There is nothing on the planet like it the way Pires plays it.
You are welcome. I got that information from a book I am reading called Year of Wonder, by Clemency Burton-Hill. Today’s chapter was about this piece. It’s an excellent book, if you love classical music!
I assume you mean because of the prevalent rubato? I wouldn't go so far as saying Chopin but I do find it a bit distracting despite her insanely beautiful tone and obvious musicality
There is a great difference between a pianoforte and a clavicenbalo,Scarlatti played a clavicembalo.Anyway listen to Jean Rondeau to have an idea of what I'm sayng.
O a Scott Ross, para tocar Scarlatti no basta solo tener un clavecin, sino otras cosas, y por ejemplo ese rubato y el uso ocasional del pedal no ayudan mucho.
The resemblance is not coincidental. Chopin loved Scarlatti, collected manuscripts of his music (only 30 sonatas had been published at this time), and was clearly influenced by him.
