267 CD / Scarlatti: Complete piano sonatas vol. 5
Description
+++ Breaking News +++ Christoph Ullrich tested positive for Scarlatti
Der Pianist Christoph Ullrich wurde positiv auf Scarlatti getestet und befindet sich in dreimonatiger häuslicher Quarantäne, um sich dort auf die nächste Welle vorzubereiten. Das Scarlatti-Virus ist äußerst infektiös. Eine davon infizierte Person kann leicht 100 weitere anstecken. Als besonders gefährliche Superspreader Events werden die bisher erschienenen Folgen der Scarlatti-Gesamtausgabe bei TACET angesehen. Symptome sind permanentes Hören dieser Aufnahmen, Schlaflosigkeit und gute Laune. Beim Produzenten sollen sogar schon Anzeichen von Geistesverwirrung aufgetreten sein. Gerd Finkenstein ist ein intimer Kenner der Materie und bei allen Aufnahmen dieser TACET-Reihe mit seinem Konzertflügel anwesend. Selbst ein so großes Instrument wie der Steinway D bietet keinen ausreichenden Schutz, auch Finkenstein wurde positiv getestet. Er sagt „Ich kann keine Nacht mehr schlafen, wälze mich von einer Seite auf die andere und wache ständig mit guter Laune auf.“ Die Krankheit stammt nicht wie oft behauptet aus China, sondern aus Italien, entweder aus Parma oder aus Venedig, vielleicht sogar aus beiden Städten. Das sagt Thomas Seedorf, Chefvirologe der TACET-Reihe. Er rät, unbedingt die AHA-Regeln (Auspacken – Anhören – Aaah) einzuhalten, und so Thomas Seedorf: „Lesen Sie diese Information nicht! Das ist brandgefährlich. Sollten Sie sie schon gelesen haben, melden Sie sich beim Ministerium für musikalische Gesundheit und folgen den dortigen Anweisungen.“
Further information about the Scarlatti Project.
Christoph Ullrich on Youtube: Sonata in g moll K 8, Allegro and Sonata in C major, K 487, Allegro
5 reviews for 267 CD / Scarlatti: Complete piano sonatas vol. 5
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hören & fühlen –
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SWR2 Treffpunkt Klassik –
(...) A typical Scarlatti sonata with suggestions, trills and ornaments, played on a modern grand piano. How well this can work, many pianist greats have already proven, gladly such pieces are resorted to as a program supplement or encore. However, there are hardly any pianists who undertake a complete recording of Domenico Scarlatti's piano sonatas - the situation is somewhat different for harpsichordists. For several years now, pianist Christoph Ullrich has dedicated himself to this seemingly endless cosmos of one-movement sonatas, diving deeper and deeper into it and finding his very own expression. Thus, with regard to ornamentation, he adopts much of the historically informed performance practice. But he translates it, so to speak, to the modern grand piano - here, by the way, it is a Steinway. This mammoth project has already been running for 10 years on the Tacet label. And there are always surprising discoveries to be made (...).
(...) Christoph Ullrich's Scarlatti project is accompanied musicologically by Thomas Seedorf, who contributes an article to each CD on a particular complex of questions concerning the work and life of Domenico Scarlatti - a perfect complement. (...)
(...) I am impressed by how present and lively Christoph Ullrich makes this music sound on a modern Steinway, giving it a timeless beauty that survives the centuries with ease. Scarlatti's 555 sonatas are a real treasure trove, where one discovers little treasures again and again. (...)
Bettina Winkler
Klassik heute –
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In his complete recording of Scarlatti's piano sonatas, Christoph Ullrich pursues a perspective that is as stylistically confident as it is personal in his interpretation of these pianistic miniature works of art. After all, they are anything but amiable miniatures, but rather each represents a small musical universe of its own, with its own distinctive character: Christoph Ullrich proves this again on the latest installment of his Integrale, in that he knows how to perfectly shape the diversity of these pianistic gems and once again makes himself the advocate of Scarlatti's stylistic individuality. Also remarkable is the elegance of the piano style with which Ullrich builds a bridge from Scarlatti's late baroque clavier style to the world of today's concert grand piano.
The sound engineering, which is completely equal to the performance of the interpreter, ensures that this set of Christoph Ullrich's complete recording of Domenico Scarlatti's piano sonatas, which in view of the wealth of Domenico's sonata oeuvre is a truly mammoth undertaking, can also maintain its first-class status.
Detmar Huchting
Classics Today –
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Although Christoph Ullrich’s multi-volume Scarlatti cycle is ordered numerically, the individual volumes are not being sequentially issued. For instance, Volume 11 actually was the second in the series to be released. I reviewed Volume 11, and expressed my enjoyment, with the caveat that Ullrich was not so consistently satisfying as his rival in Scarlatti completeness, Carlo Grante. Grante has since finished his cycle, while Ullrich still has a way to go as of March 2021. However, Volume 5’s selections attain a more consistent and inspired interpretive level than in previous volumes. Or perhaps I’m listening better? In any event, Ullrich’s technical poise and innate musicality beautifully merge.
He navigates the D major K, 178’s interlacing trills and scales with every accent and every nuance perfectly placed, and makes the F minor K. 185’s legato/detaché contrasts subtly distinct. The E-flat K. 193 has a sec crispness that contrasts with the warmer inflections other pianists usually bring to this music. On the other hand, the F major K. 194’s dry detachment wears out its welcome on account of Ullrich observing all of the repeats, but that’s also true of Grante’s slightly faster performance.
The B minor K. 197 is a master class in finger legato with little help from the pedal, while the F minor K. 204b features some of the most alluringly shaded repeated notes in the business. What is more, the pianist is not afraid to take a phrase or two up the octave upon repeats, or to discreetly reinforce bass lines with added octaves. Why clarinetist Ib Hausmann’s rambling quasi-avant-garde solo improvisation titled Scarlark appears as a bonus track is anybody’s guess. He can be heard to far more flattering advantage playing Max Reger’s complete clarinet works on Profil. I look forward to Ullrich’s further Scarlatti installments.
Jed Distler
© 2021 ClassicsToday.com
Pizzicato –
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Scarlatti's entire diversity
Christoph Ullrich continues his complete recording of all piano sonatas by Domenico Scarlatti on Tacet. Volume 5 contains the sonatas K. 177-205 on 2 CDs. As in the previous recordings, one can admire his imaginative playing. Any interpreter who does not allow boredom to arise for a minute in such a sequence of works must not only play in style and taste, but must also have an excellent sense of rhythm and colour in order to implement Scarlatti’s technical and harmonic innovations and make the infinite variety of this sonata work clear.
Remy Franck