Domenico Scarlatti, known to most of us for his 550-odd masterly keyboard sonatas, lived in the shadow of his famous father Alessandro for a long, long while. But it was with the help of his dad that launched his own rather illustrious career, not the least in helping to establish him in Rome where he was the principle musician at the cathedral of St. Mary Major.
With the exception of the early Te Deum (probably written for Lisbon), these works testify to the creative genius of the composer’s early to middle years. The short mass “La stella” (the Star) was written for a nativity or epiphany service, and done for two four-part choruses using the stile antico style of Palestrina, updated of course with continuo. The Magnificat is for unaccompanied chorus despite the possible textual suggestion of an accompaniment in an empty stave in the score, and is a lovely four-part setting of the vespers antiphon. His most famous work, perhaps not unlike his father, is that of the Stabat Mater, a jewel in his crown, a ten-voice double choir piece that shows a remarkable ability to synthesize the older church requirements with the newer style then emerging.
This is a fine recording, perhaps not quite as clean as I have heard (the Sixteen with Harry Christophers on a Coro recording is about the last word in conciseness and clarity), and so I must defer to the English just listed in parentheses as a first choice, since the program is almost identical; nevertheless, the German forces here are properly attuned to the Scarlatti spirit, and for the reasonable Naxos price this is well worth acquiring if you aren’t convinced to shell out a few more dollars. Nicely done sound and perspective, but with no texts.
— Steven Ritter
