After having scaled the musical Everest that is Domenico Scarlatti’s 555 keyboard sonatas, Pieter-Jan Belder turned his attention to Scarlatti his Spanish contemporary, Antonio Soler. Soler’s productivity was hardly less astonishing, especially as a monk at the abbey of El Escorial required to spend much of his time either in contemplation or directing the abbey’s music. In this capacity he would most likely have met Scarlatti, as the latter accompanied his royal patrons to their summer retreat at El Escorial. Soler’s keyboard sonatas are also bipartite constructions, with new twists of harmony and invention around each unexpected corner. This first volume is completed by one of the most curious of all harpsichord works, a Fandango with a slowly evolving, hypnotic effect that has more than once been compared to Ravel’s Boléro.
Additional information:
- Recorded in 2007.
- "Belder benefits from a grateful recorded sound…his playing in general is characterised by bold perkiness and energy" (Gramophone on Belder’s Scarlatti cycle).
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