Scarlatti: Sonatas, Volume 2: Piano Book

This edition strips away the guesswork by addressing the very decisions that separate competent playing from compelling playing. The four-level grading system lets teachers build a coherent journey through Scarlatti's style, and the careful attention to dynamics, ornamentation, and phrasing means students learn not just notes, but intention.

Scarlatti's keyboard writing crackles with invention and wit. These sonatas balance technical figuration with genuine lyricism, offering moments of rhetorical elegance alongside passages that seem to delight in their own brilliance and virtuosity.

Late intermediate and early advanced pianists ready to engage with Baroque keyboard idiom at a serious level. Teachers seeking a curated collection that addresses not just repertoire selection but the interpretive questions students inevitably face.

• Shape ornaments with rhythmic clarity rather than rushing them. Scarlatti's trills and mordents should articulate the harmonic movement, not dissolve into decoration.
• Observe the fingering suggestions closely, especially for hand-crossing passages. The recommended fingerings often reveal the intended voice leading and prevent awkward position shifts.
• Approach the suggested dynamics as signposts for structural clarity. Terraced dynamics typical of Baroque style help listeners follow the musical argument.
• Treat rhythmic notation flexibly within the Baroque convention. Notes inégales and slight rubato in solo passages add character without compromising the underlying pulse.

Feature a late intermediate sonata on a student recital to anchor the Baroque section with something genuinely engaging rather than obligatory. The early advanced selections work well on showcase concerts where their technical demands and stylistic sophistication earn their place alongside Romantic or Contemporary works.

• Baroque ornamentation conventions and their realization
• Hand crossing technique with secure passage work
• Period-appropriate phrasing and articulation
• Terraced dynamics and structural shaping
• Stylistically informed fingering choices
• Rhythmic flexibility within Baroque conventions