Scarlatti: Complete Keyboard Sonatas, Vol. 5 (2003)

Benjamin Frith Plays Scarlatti

Naxos Music begain its monumental project of recording the complete Scarlatti keyboard sonatas in 1999 with the release of a CD by pianist Eteri Andjapardize. The series has continued for 25 years with the recent release of CD vol. 28 by pianist Sang Woo Kang. Each volume presents a selection of Scarlatti's 550 keyboard sonatas performed by a different pianist. (One pianist has recorded two CDs in the series.) The series thus offers the opportunity to hear Scarlatti performed from a variety of perspectives and interpretations. I have enjoyed the series greatly over the years. I followed most of the early releases, lost track of them for a while with the change away from CDs and am returning to them. Scarlatti is an inexhaustible source of delight.

The British pianist Benjamin Frith recorded this collection of Scarlatti sonatas in 1999, and it was released as volume 5 in the Naxos series in 2003. It was a recording that I missed, and I am grateful for the opportunity to hear it at last. Frith (b. 1957) was a child prodigy who won the Dudley National Concerto Competition age 14, He has had a long international career as a concert pianist and educator. In the more recent stages of his career, Frith has devoted himself largely to chamber music as the pianist in the Gould Piano Trio. This recording in the Naxos series appears to be his only CD of Scarlatti.

The disk includes 16 Scarlatti sonatas in a variety of major and minor keys and a wide emotional range. Frith plays with a light, rapid touch in the faster sonatas and with lyricism in the slower pieces. The former group includes the sonata in C major, K. 461 a work with many passages in scales and a serenade-like middle section. I have attempted this work myself on the piano and learned from Frith's reading. The virtuosic and familar sonata in A major K. 113 also receives an exciting performance.

Frith is at his best in the several sonatas marked "cantabile" in this collection, including the sonata in E-flat major, K. 507, the sonata in A major, K. 536, and the sonata in G minor, K. 546. Other works of a lyrical character include the sonata in A major, K, 404 and the sonata in B-flat major, K. 266.. There is much to love in Scarlatti in this recording.

Frith's performance received accolades when this CD was released over 20 years ago. Writing in the BBC Music Magazin in April 2003, George Pratt described Frith as "an inspired choice for the fifth disc in Naxos's cycle, a compelling advocate of the piano" He wrote that Frith "transports the music to the new medium, capitalising on the piano's ability to pick out a strand, shape dynamics and bathe textures in subtle pedalling, without ever misrepresenting Scarlatti - a disc to convert the most diehard authenticist."
And Kevin Sutton in MusicWeb International praised Frith for "the manner in which he handles the slower, more lyrical works. He knows how to make the piano sing, and his legato, achieved mostly with the fingers and not the right foot, is splendid. To sum it up, his playing is effervescent and lyrical, bringing this music alive in a most enjoyable way."

Although the CD is 20 years old, the playing is fresh and Scarlatti is timeless. This is an excellent CD in the ongoing Naxos series and an introduction to Scarlatti in its own right. Keith Anderson, as always, wrote the brief liner notes.

Total Time: 61:10

Robin Friedman