There are two great performances of Scarlatti’s most beautiful sonata. The performances are by Dinu Lipatti and by Vladimir Horowitz. I personally like Horowitz better than Lipatti in this sonata. Both take the sonata at the same tempo. Dinu Lipatti’s version is much more in the style of the baroque. However, one must remember that Scarlatti himself wouldn’t have wanted his music to be played in a baroque-ish way. Scarlatti, who lived in Portugal, led a very isolated life. Therefore, he wrote music mostly for himself. His music was “far out” and ahead of his time. Scarlatti, whose dates are 1685 (the same year as Bach and Handel) – 1757, wrote music that is more suitable for the piano than the harpsichord. Scarlatti’s music is piano music. If Scarlatti could have, I think he would have used extreme basses on the piano, certainly in some of his more “wild” sonatas (K299, K261, K348, K358, K387, K416). What I find amazing in Scarlatti is the desire for modernism, for the techniques that we use in playing the modern piano: pedals, rubato, strong dynamics…
The sonata begins quite simply, presenting a melody four times.
I especially like the sequence of harmonies that come after the melody. No other composer of Scarlatti’s time would do this:
Between these chords, there are four dotted notes that should be played as ornaments. Their order is similar to that of a mordent. Actually, Lipatti plays these notes in a more ornamental way. After this, the “second subject” appears, although because this is not written in classical sonata form, it is not a proper second subject, but it plays the role of one.
Scarlatti combines the outlines of the two subjects to end the exposition and to structure the piece.
Lipatti
Dinu Lipatti’s performance is very much in the style of baroque. However, in this sonata he starts the trills from the note of the trill, something that is not typical for baroque music. His dynamics are “minimal.” This is something that I would prefer not to do in Scarlatti, who was a “futurist” composer and was ahead of his time. Lipatti remains in the “quiet” style of playing throughout the exposition, and starts a mild crescendo in the second section of the piece. Shortly after, he returns to the same quiet style of playing. In my opinion, Scarlatti sonatas must be played with a lot of contrast. Lyrical, wild, percussive, eccentric, orchestral, and many more qualities must be present when playing Scarlatti. Scarlatti is so much different from Bach, Handel, Rameau, and all the other composers who lived in the time of the baroque. Lipatti is too “straightforward” in his performance, and there aren’t enough Scarlattian qualities in his playing. But don’t get me wrong, Lipatti is still my favorite pianist! And I don’t think anyone can match him. Still, I think that Horowitz plays this particular sonata better than Lipatti because of the Scarlattian qualities that Horowitz displays in his playing.
Lipatti begins the sonata very articulately, emphasizing every eighths note of the bar, creating an effect of . I think that the sonata should start with more phrasing, as Horowitz starts it, creating an effect of three fourths. The sonata is written in three fourths, not in six eighths. Although this is the most “elegant” of Scarlatti’s sonatas, it is still not as elegant as Lipatti plays it, and Lipatti is not Scarlattian enough, not even for this sonata. (For the same reasons, I prefer Jenö Jando’s performance of Bartok’s Piano Concerto No. 3 over Lipatti’s.)
Horowitz
Vladimir Horowitz’s performance of this sonata is, in my opinion, the best of the best. Horowitz’s sound possesses all the qualities needed in this piece. Horowitz remains in the three fourths beat throughout the sonata, which is the right way to play it. When Horowitz plays it, the whole structure stands out before the listener, and the phrasing is very clear. This is what lacks in Lipatti’s playing. Moreover, Horowitz is not so “conservative,” and he dares do things such as rubatos, fermatas, drastic dynamics, which Lipatti doesn’t. Horowitz “stretches” the phrasing the way he wants it, not allowing himself to be limited by the rules of the baroque. He plays the sonata in his regular romantic style (drastic basses, dynamic changes, etc.). But then again, this is in the style of Scarlatti.
Here are the two great performances. I’m eager to know which one you like better.