Alessandro Scarlatti (1660-1725)
Domenico Scarlatti (1685-1757)
Keyboard Works
Jae-Yeon Won (piano)
rec. 2024, Teldex Studio, Berlin
Reviewed as lossless download
Onyx 4267 [79]

Recordings of sonatas by Domenico Scarlatti on the modern piano are very common, but would you believe that these are the first recordings of any of Alessandro’s keyboard works on the modern piano? Onyx and South Korean pianist Jae-Yeon Won must have been delighted, but also surprised, to find that they were the first. Even had the works been less than interesting, it still would have been a notable premiere, but they are very fine works indeed, and, not surprisingly, very different to the Iberian-saturated sonatas of his son.

As the Alessandro pieces are toccatas, expect lots of notes and rapid tempos. But there is more to them than just showiness. The C major is something of a standout, at over six minutes in five movements – the others are under five and in two movements – and it has Grave and Minuett movements to contrast with the fast sections. Won handles the quick changes in mood admirably. It is also intelligent programming to interweave the works of the two composers, so that there is contrast across the well-filled recording.

I don’t intend to analyse each of the Domenico sonatas; instead I have chosen three to illustrate how Won’s playing compares with other recordings in my collection.

Kk9 (Allegro) is one of the best-known of Domenico’s five hundred-plus sonatas; Presto list over 100 recordings, though of course many of those would be played on the harpsichord. It does mean that Won is up against a lot of the Scarlatti big guns, including Yevgeny Sudbin (BIS – review), Mikhail Pletnev (Virgin Classics/Erato – review) and Angela Hewitt (Hyperion – review). Sudbin is the outlier of the group, racing through at under three minutes, while the others are around four. It may be brilliantly played, but the speed at which Sudbin takes it – surely Presto rather than Allegro – robs it of poetry. Won’s reading is closer in style to that of Hewitt than Pletnev – i.e. more consistent tempos and dynamics – but with a warmer tone. Of the four versions, I prefer this new one.

Kk208 (Adagio e cantabile) receives a poetic and gentle reading from Won. He uses quite a lot of pedal and keeps the tempo and dynamics fairly consistent, leading to a dreamy feel. By comparison, the more varied (some would call it interventionist) approach of Sudbin (BIS – review) this time creates a much more mysterious and successful effect. Federico Colli (Chandos – review) takes the slow tempo marking to an extreme – he is more than two minutes slower than Sudbin – and it was just too much – the string of my attention snapped about half way through.

Of the four other recordings of Kk427 (Presto quanto sia possible) in my collection – Sudbin (BIS – review), Angela Hewitt (Hyperion), Eteri Andjaparidze (Naxos) and Eri Mantani (MDG) – the latter two were non-starters. Mantani’s is fairly colourless, while Andjaparidze goes hell for leather, and loses the structure of the piece in his attempt to play “as fast as possible”. It is a measure of Won’s capabilities that he is almost as fast, but you can hear each individual note. As you would expect by now, he does not play about with the dynamics or tempos in the way that Sudbin does, and the result is more satisfying. As with the earlier comparison, I found Won’s approach to be somewhat similar to that of Angela Hewitt, though the harpsichord is further in the background with him.

Jae-Yeon Won has won several competition prizes, but this is only his second recording, the first being back in 2020 with a diverse program ranging from Bach to Bartók on the Acousence label. I am impressed by his playing here. While he doesn’t impose his personality strongly on the music, the result is anything but bland or characterless. The sound is warm, but the booklet notes are minimal.

The main reason to buy this recording is the four Alessandro Toccatas which are must-hear for anyone who enjoys Baroque keyboard works on the modern piano. The Domenico sonatas are all well played, some very fine indeed. It will be interesting to see where Won goes next.

David Barker

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Contents
Alessandro
Toccata VI in D minor, ASOT I, 58-63
Toccata in D major, ASOT II, 12-18
Toccata in C major, ASOT 76
Toccata IV in A minor, ASOT I, 43-51
Domenico
Sonata in G major, Kk 427
Sonata in E major, Kk 380
Sonata in G minor, Kk 8
Sonata in D minor, Kk 141
Sonata in D minor, Kk 32
Sonata in A major, Kk 208
Sonata in F sharp minor, Kk 25
Sonata in A minor, Kk 175
Sonata in C major, Kk 255
Sonata in F major, Kk 17
Sonata in C minor, Kk 56
Sonata in C minor, Kk 40
Sonata in D minor, Kk 9
Sonata in E flat major, Kk 253
Sonata in F minor, Kk 466