GG and Scarlatti

[aq094@lafn.org (Eugene Selig)]

Reference was made to whether GG found Scarlatti's music lacking in 
depth, or sufficient technical challenge, and for those reasons stopped 
playing that composer's works. These "Sonatas" were really "Studies," and 
as such each posed a particular technical problem. However, just as 
in the case of the Chopin Etudes, the musicality of the composer 
permeates them. Their sound often belies their difficulty, as the 
performer may be playing with hands crossed, as well as demanding fearful 
"blind" leaps. Listen to Horowitz' dazzling performance of these pieces 
to appreciate their virtuosic characteristics. They may seem lacking in 
"depth" because of their stated purpose. GG was not interested in pure 
display, although he certainly had the where-with-all. I would like to 
propose that the real reason he discarded S. from his repertory may be 
linked to the fact that Horowitz made that composer his own early on. H. 
was a superb miniaturist and his legacy included very few larger forms, 
i.e., Beethoven concertos and sonatas, etc. Knowing GG's hostility toward 
H., he would not want to be identified with the latter's stock-in-trade.
  
It is interesting that GG played C.P.E. Bach's "Sonatas," which, like 
those of Scarlatti, are examples of an infant sonata form, but embarrassingly
simple to play though endowed with emotional content. Perhaps GG's 
admiration for the Bach familiy fueled his interest. The "Silver Anniversary" 
recording contains samples of these works. If anyone would like to know 
more on the "depth" of S., read Wanda Landowska's book, in which she 
discusses them as "programme" music, even quoting some remarks made by 
none other than Clara Schumann, who loved those pieces. (For those who 
don't recognize these names, WL was a very famous harpsichordist of the 30s, 
whose repertory included Scarlatti as well as the expected J.S. Bach. Clara 
Schumann was the piano virtuoso wife of Robert, the composer of the 
Romantic era).