Spring 1998

Classical

Domenico Scarlatti's fame rests securely on the more than 500 emotive and virtuosic sonatas he wrote for harpsichord, of which he was a peerless player. Though bested by Handel in an organ improvisation contest, Scarlatti (like virtually every keyboardist of those days) really did know his way around the organ, and several of his sonatas specifically indicate organ use. But Andrea Marcon would have us believe that more than a few dozen others, by their style and figuration, also were intended for the «king of instruments». And what delightful little germs these turn out to be, structurally more solid and harmonically more adventuresome than the works of Scarlatti's lesser Italian contemporaries, more bouyant and sunny-spirited even than much of the great Handel or Sebastian Bach (with whom Scarlatti shares the birth-year 1685); they absolutely come alive in this beguiling recording. The 1779 Gaetano Callido organ at Tempio Monumentale de San Niccolo in Treviso, chirps and twitters amiably. Unlike most early Italian instruments, it possesses two manual keyboards (for echo effects) and several buzzy tromboncini (reed stops), so Marcon enjoys a multiplicitY of sonic resources which he applies liberally and with imagination. Documentation of every sort is provided in the helpful booklet (including individual registration recipes for each piece). And such sound ... pungent, sweet, rich, simple - and the music - philosophical or passionate, virgorous or languid; their combination never cloying, never annoying, always engaging, cajoling entertaining and cantabile. Instrument and repertoire are in ideal accord, and Maestro Marcon's magic fingers let it sing. Yes, this is a perfect "period performance", but it is more; it is history made alive, the old made new and wonderfully captivating for jaded ears today. I continue to be impressed by Divox Antiqua production values. They earn top rating here. Listen and smile.