Scarlatti published just 30 of his 550 or so keyboard sonatas. They appeared in London in 1738/9 under the title Essercizi per gravicembalo ('Keyboard exercises'). In the preface he warned players: "Do not expect, whether you be amateur or professional, to find any profound intention in these compositions, but rather an ingenious jesting with art." Scarlatti's sonatas are perhaps most famous for their flamboyant Hispanic touches, with hints of the rhythms and melodies of Spanish folk music. (The composer, born in Naples, spent 25 years in Madrid.) During his lifetime his music was not widely circulated and it's impact and influence was largely restricted to composers like Sebastián de Albero and Antonio Soler who, like Scarlatti himself, had connections with the royal household of Spain.

The legendary Italian pianist Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli (1920 - 1995), playing at the height of his powers, performs two Beethoven sonatas in an historic recording now digitally restored and re-mastered. He also plays earlier sonatas by Scarlatti and Galuppi. Michelangeli's fine control and perfect clarity - always present in his playing - have positioned him as one of the most outstanding recording artists of any generation.

First and foremost, Domenico Scarlatti is regarded as the greatest composer of binary harpsichord sonatas of all time, and that is as it should be: he wrote more than 600 of them and many are constantly recorded and played. However, early in his Italian career, Scarlatti developed a proven track record as a composer of sacred music, some of it under the watchful eye of his father, Alessandro Scarlatti, believed by many at the time as the top composer of the age. The fact most readily observed in regard to Domenico's sacred music is that his Stabat mater, composed in 1717 or 1718, was the work within that genre replaced in Rome by Giovanni Pergolesi's Stabat mater around 1735. The Scarlatti work was conceived in a different style to different strictures; while it has become the most recorded of Scarlatti's sacred works, it definitely suffers when paired with the Pergolesi owing to its immediacy and familiarity. On Coro's Iste Confessor, the Sixteen led by Harry Christophers widely opt for Scarlatti's own, other sacred music as filler to the "Stabat mater with results fairer to the composer and quite favorable to listeners.

This anthology of devotional music from 18th-century Venice and Naples offers an interesting and varied programme. Best known is Pergolesi’s Stabat mater, but the settings by Domenico Scarlatti and Bononcini stand well in comparison. The motets by Lotti, Caldara and Alessandro Scarlatti are real discoveries; Norrington’s performances of the latter are particularly fine. Guest’s Pergolesi suffers from a focus of sound which makes the interpretation seem somewhat generalised. However, all these performances give pleasure, while the music is melodically fresh and rhythmically vital.

For his third Erato album of harpsichord music, Jean Rondeau turns to Domenico Scarlatti and some 20 of the often-dazzling sonatas that the Neapolitan composer wrote during his years at the royal court in Madrid. Imbued with the spirit of the dance, they are works that Rondeau uses “to tell a story for the people who will listen to an album from beginning to end …

Nikolai Demidenko is a celebrated piano virtuoso, considered a leading exponent of the Russian school of playing. His blend of technical brilliance and musical vision have earned him consistent raves since he first emerged on the international scene in the mid-1980s, and he has become a musical fixture in his adopted home of Great Britain, where he gained citizenship in 1995. Demidenko began playing before the age of five, learning on his grandfather's old, beaten-up piano. By the age of six, he was a student of Anna Kantor (Evgeny Kissin's teacher) at the Gnessin School of Music. An obstinate student who disliked scales and technique, Demidenko still made swift progress, and he eventually entered the Moscow Conservatory. There, he studied with Dmitri Bashkirov, whom Demidenko credits with fostering his more individual qualities as a player, as well as ironing out the remaining wrinkles in his technique. Reaching the finals of both the 1976 Montreal competition and the 1978 Tchaikovsky competition in Moscow (where he played through an acute case of the flu) served as a final springboard to professional recognition.

Dramma per musica in three acts by Domenico Scarlatti to a libretto by Capece [Capeci], Carlo Sigismondo; Rome, Queen Maria Casimira’s private theatre in the Palazzo Zuccari, ?10 January 1712.

Si hablamos de Domenico Scarlatti lo primero que nos viene a la cabeza son sus más de quinientas sonatas para clave, plenas de virtuosismo, hondura y elegancia, que siempre han tentado a los clavecinistas más osados. Sin embargo, en la producción de Scarlatti hay otras composiciones igualmente interesantes y exquisitas, y buena muestra de ellas nos ofrece el joven al tiempo que brillante conjunto asturiano Forma Antiqva en su último disco –Sopra Scarlatti– que es una maravilla del principio al fin… y la prueba fehaciente de que los músicos españoles tienen mucho y bueno que decir.

La Tempestad se ha presentado al público en Festivales como los de Aranjuez, Cádiz, Sevilla, Marbella, Murcia, Santillana del Mar, Valladolid, Almería, Daroca, Zaragoza, etc. Sus miembros, formados en importantes conservatorios europeos (Toulouse, Viena, Amsterdam, La Haya), han formado parte de Al Ayre Español, La Real Cámara, El Concierto Español, Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra, Orchestra of the XVIII Century, European Union Baroque Orchestra, La Stravaganza, Orquesta Barroca de Sevilla, etc., con quienes han actuado por España, Europa, Israel y China.

The Scarlatti family is one of many musical dynasties in music history. Only two of its number are still well-known today: Alessandro and his son Domenico. Alessandro was born in Palermo as the second son of Pietro Scarlata - the family name in its original form - who was active as a tenor. During his career Alessandro lived and worked in several cities: Rome, Naples and Venice. At a young age he was already a famous and much sought-after composer. His younger brother Francesco – almost forgotten today - was less lucky. He was appointed as violinist at the royal court in Naples in 1684, but returned to Palermo in 1691, and stayed there for about 24 years. He tried to find appointments at the courts of Vienna and Naples, but failed. In 1719 he travelled to London, where he participated in public concerts.

You can't help but get the idea that Domenico Scarlatti rather lived under the shadow of his father Alessandro. It is only with his move to the Iberian peninsula that his career seems to liven up. Very few of his surviving choral and vocal works live up to the imagination at play in the keyboard sonatas. His vocal works were highly regarded by his contemporaries and Charles Burney was admiring indeed. Remarkably, as recently as 1941, only his Stabat Mater had appeared in a modern edition. It was during the centenary in 1985 that new music was discovered and made available.