I listened to these a lot for over a decade and was endlessly thrilled at the genius of both the music and the playing. I am sure that by now I have listened to all 555 nultiple times. And I've played half a dozen or so to the point that they were, shall we say, recognizable. And of course the great Scott Ross tragedy always loomed in the background. He was already suffering from the disease that would kill him during the recording process. It kind of reminds me of the Dinu Lipatti story. The beauty and variety of these works was just hard for me to imagine. In a form that seems at first glance to be so homogenous, the unending musical variety is almost impossible to wrap your head around. It can only be explained by pure genius. This is a great choice for this category of important recording projects. I'm so happy that this work of Scott Ross made it to the promininent position of #2 on the list.
Well put. I listened to all 34 cd's as well many, many times. It really is unbelievable music. And yes, also played beautifully. By now there are several complete recordings, both on harpsichord and piano. Naxos has a Scarlatti project as well. They're on cd nr26 by now I think, played on piano by different players. Vive Scarlatti!
34 discs were a daunting prospect when they first came out, so I got the "small box" of just 3 CDs. That was good enough to entice me to get the entire set once it was re-issued at budget price (
Watching project n•1 yesterday, I taught of Scott Ross’s Scarlatti. As a harpsichordist, it came as an evidence. But I’m happy to see it here! Thanks Dave 👍🏻
I'm not sure if it's even registered as a blip to the classical music recording industry, but for me, it's huge and inspiring: the 3 Kepler Quartet recordings of the Ben Johnston string quartets. They're all phenomenal performances and recordings of phenomenal microtonal music, and perhaps a great example of the kinds of extremely technical but beautiful recordings that can be made with computer-assisted preparation for, and an unbelieve amount of dedication from, the musicians.
One of the recordings that has got to be in this list is LaMonte Young's "The Well-Tuned Piano". It's not popular, but it is a landmark recording for people who love minimalism and experimental music, and microtonal music. There's good reason why well-preserved LP sets of this recording are so valuable. One very clear influence that has more commercial appeal: Terry Riley's "The Harp Of New Albion", also a fantastic and extended piano performance in just intonation.
Years ago, a local store brought in a large range of Erato recordings and I went mad and bought a copy of most of them./ Among them was a disc of assorted Scarlatti sonatas played by Scott Ross and I was most impressed with it.
Also complete Schumann, Brahms, Faure, Poulenc lieder and melodies on Hyperion with Graham Johnson's superb annotations. His analysis of the Frauenliebe, for one, even made it textually palatable!
A wonderful series. Scott Ross was the first to complete this herculean task; but he was not the first to attempt it. That was Fernando Valenti, a superb harpsichordist (not HIP by today's standards, though), whom Westminster Records engaged to record the complete Scarlatti Sonatas. As far as I can recall, he completed 25 LP albums before the series was discontinued. I collected many of them back in the day. They languish in Universal's vaults and deserve at least a selective reissue. Among first-ever projects of historical importance I would like to suggest Vanguard's Handel Oratorio series led by Johannes Somary. That series ultimately extended to several works that had already been recorded. But it began with first-ever recordings to Handel's final works in that genre--namely, "Theodora" and "Jeptha." Both towering masterpieces that earnest Handelians, such as I was at the time, had only read about in the scholarly literature, and longed to hear. And then, mirabile dictu, they appeared, on Vanguard. And though both works have since had numerous fine HIP recordings, the Somary versions are still worthy for their dramatic intensity and still unmatched casts.
@@angreagach Yes, I know. I have a CD reissue of the Landowska/Scarlatti recordings, and they are marvelous. In my comment I think I meant that there no complete Scarlatti projects prior to Valenti's efforts for Westminster.
Maria Barbara must have been crazy talented, and Scarlatti a hell of a teacher/composer. This fabulous set had been on my radar at least 15 years ago. Life's expenses got in the way. I heard about the amazing notes, that came in the orginal set. It's too bad they aren't included in the reissue? Here's an idea, recording companies should at least make the notes available online for download for limited time. Especially for meaningful reference recordings. Imop.
I would have never dreamed this would have come up so soon in the series. This is one of my favorite sets; but I had no idea anyone else was even interested in Scarlatti Jr. I seriously can't pick out a bad track of the 555. I can't recommend this box highly enough.
Other really important projects - suggestions: The Ligeti Project (Erato); Colin Davis' first set of Belioz recordings - not least helping to get Les Troyens appreciated; Stravinsky's Columbia recordings; and Bernstein's Mahler - in the round, three cycles.
By, The way, I forgot to thank you so much for this one on Scott Ross's Scarlatti Sonatas -- my research into/listening to 'authentic' period keyboard instruments coincided with this wonderful set ( and Leonhardts Goldbergs and '48'.)
Another idea: Mompou's complete piano music played by the composer himself when he was around 80. It's in 4 CD in Brilliant Classics, and although the sound is not that good and he was a bit old, it's still a reference for his freedom and flexibility. In the same vein, all the Britten recordings conducting his own operas.
Johann Strauss complete orchestral music - first on Marco Polo, now in a big Naxos box. Yes, Dave, I know you're not a great Strauss family fan, but.....
A recent choice: the Bru Zane vocal and opera recordings. Those are generally excellent recordings of forgotten but historically relevant pieces, in good sound, with lavish booklets. Naturally, I agree, too, with the obvious choices: Mackerras' Janaček operas, Doráti's Haydn, etc.
I do wish Bru Zane was more OCD about cuts, but most of their issues are important. The new recording of Franck's Hulda is a great improvement over the admittedly pioneering Naxos issue.
Totally unrelated, Dave, a wonderful 4th of July to you tomorrow. I hope you take the time to listen to Margaret Buechner's fabulous meditation, "The Flight of the American Eagle." I think your viewers would love it. Not widely known or appreciated.
Sorry to write so much....Warner reissued the complete set. And in that box, Warner reprinted the text descriptions of each sonata found in the Chambure book(leaving out the themes in music notation). They also added an interview with Ross.
Like it or not, Dave (and I know that you don't!) if you are talking about important recording projects that changed the way we think about and listen to familiar classical music, then it has to be Sir Roger Norrington's Beethoven Symphonies with the London Classical players. The Harnoncourt/Leonhardt complete Bach Sacred Cantatas will, surely, be among your next "most important recording projects ever" - a project of yours which I heartily applaud -- even if you and I seem not to agree on many things! Very best wishes, Dave, Colin.
Norrington, no way. You greatly overestimate his importance. People like Scherchen or Leibowitz were doing Beethoven's metronome markings and the like decades earlier, and the use of period instruments is not material, for all the PR to the contrary.
I nominate the complete Sibelius project by Chandos. A universe unto itself. Also, the complete Mozart symphonies by Karl Bohm. Opened Mozart up to us, beyond the 6 or 7 most really experienced. Paul G.
The completeness of this set is remarkable and, for the collector, rather wonderful, but i have to say - and maybe it's not permitted to say this - the performances aren't always of the first rank. I'm comparing individual sonatas that I've got to know in other recordings which have greater poise or greater drama or beauty, or simply a much better harpsichord sound. But I still come back to Scott Ross for the completeness!
You're probably thinking of Leslie Howard, who has recorded the complete piano output of Liszt on Hyperion, including some stuff that exists only in manuscript and even occasionally updating with recently discovered works. I listened to it all, and the performances are all of high quality, although there are many works I prefer by other artists. The mind boggles to consider that a single human being could find the time even just to notate so much music let alone compose and play it, and still find leisure for the extraordinarily busy private & public life that Liszt had.
A very important recording indeed. I would suggest to always say "Domenico Scarlatti" or "D. Scarlatti" instead of just "Scarlatti". As his father, Alessandro, was a genius of almost equal importance. He wrote beautiful Italian vocal music (see his influence on Handel's cantatas). Two such genius in the same family is not a frequent case : in Bach or Couperin families, for example, there is obviously a predominant one.
I listened to these a lot for over a decade and was endlessly thrilled at the genius of both the music and the playing. I am sure that by now I have listened to all 555 nultiple times. And I've played half a dozen or so to the point that they were, shall we say, recognizable. And of course the great Scott Ross tragedy always loomed in the background. He was already suffering from the disease that would kill him during the recording process. It kind of reminds me of the Dinu Lipatti story.
The beauty and variety of these works was just hard for me to imagine. In a form that seems at first glance to be so homogenous, the unending musical variety is almost impossible to wrap your head around. It can only be explained by pure genius.
This is a great choice for this category of important recording projects. I'm so happy that this work of Scott Ross made it to the promininent position of #2 on the list.
Well put. I listened to all 34 cd's as well many, many times. It really is unbelievable music. And yes, also played beautifully. By now there are several complete recordings, both on harpsichord and piano. Naxos has a Scarlatti project as well. They're on cd nr26 by now I think, played on piano by different players. Vive Scarlatti!
34 discs were a daunting prospect when they first came out, so I got the "small box" of just 3 CDs. That was good enough to entice me to get the entire set once it was re-issued at budget price (
Watching project n•1 yesterday, I taught of Scott Ross’s Scarlatti. As a harpsichordist, it came as an evidence. But I’m happy to see it here! Thanks Dave 👍🏻
I'm not sure if it's even registered as a blip to the classical music recording industry, but for me, it's huge and inspiring: the 3 Kepler Quartet recordings of the Ben Johnston string quartets. They're all phenomenal performances and recordings of phenomenal microtonal music, and perhaps a great example of the kinds of extremely technical but beautiful recordings that can be made with computer-assisted preparation for, and an unbelieve amount of dedication from, the musicians.
My suggestion: the Complete Fitzwilliam Virginal book, played by Pieter-Jan Belder.
One of the recordings that has got to be in this list is LaMonte Young's "The Well-Tuned Piano". It's not popular, but it is a landmark recording for people who love minimalism and experimental music, and microtonal music. There's good reason why well-preserved LP sets of this recording are so valuable. One very clear influence that has more commercial appeal: Terry Riley's "The Harp Of New Albion", also a fantastic and extended piano performance in just intonation.
Years ago, a local store brought in a large range of Erato recordings and I went mad and bought a copy of most of them./ Among them was a disc of assorted Scarlatti sonatas played by Scott Ross and I was most impressed with it.
that is the kind of madness you don't appreciate at first, but pays for itself many fold over time.
@@TB-us7el Yes, there were quite a number of gems amongst them.
Two Hyperion nominations: the Hyperion Schubert Edition and Davitt Moroney's Byrd box.
Also complete Schumann, Brahms, Faure, Poulenc lieder and melodies on Hyperion with Graham Johnson's superb annotations. His analysis of the Frauenliebe, for one, even made it textually palatable!
Loved these pieces transcribed for guitar which I played as a young student, not easy but very stimulating.
K32 is pretty easy on guitar and sounds beautiful
J'ai écouté plusieurs fois les 555 sonates, sur une semaine ou deux. Toujours aussi bien.
Et j'ai le livret original
A wonderful series. Scott Ross was the first to complete this herculean task; but he was not the first to attempt it. That was Fernando Valenti, a superb harpsichordist (not HIP by today's standards, though), whom Westminster Records engaged to record the complete Scarlatti Sonatas. As far as I can recall, he completed 25 LP albums before the series was discontinued. I collected many of them back in the day. They languish in Universal's vaults and deserve at least a selective reissue. Among first-ever projects of historical importance I would like to suggest Vanguard's Handel Oratorio series led by Johannes Somary. That series ultimately extended to several works that had already been recorded. But it began with first-ever recordings to Handel's final works in that genre--namely, "Theodora" and "Jeptha." Both towering masterpieces that earnest Handelians, such as I was at the time, had only read about in the scholarly literature, and longed to hear. And then, mirabile dictu, they appeared, on Vanguard. And though both works have since had numerous fine HIP recordings, the Somary versions are still worthy for their dramatic intensity and still unmatched casts.
It's not true that there were no recordings of Scarlatti sonatas on the harpsichord before the '50s. Wanda Landowska recorded quite a few.
@@angreagach Yes, I know. I have a CD reissue of the Landowska/Scarlatti recordings, and they are marvelous. In my comment I think I meant that there no complete Scarlatti projects prior to Valenti's efforts for Westminster.
Maria Barbara must have been crazy talented, and Scarlatti a hell of a teacher/composer. This fabulous set had been on my radar at least 15 years ago. Life's expenses got in the way. I heard about the amazing notes, that came in the orginal set. It's too bad they aren't included in the reissue? Here's an idea, recording companies should at least make the notes available online for download for limited time. Especially for meaningful reference recordings. Imop.
I would have never dreamed this would have come up so soon in the series. This is one of my favorite sets; but I had no idea anyone else was even interested in Scarlatti Jr. I seriously can't pick out a bad track of the 555. I can't recommend this box highly enough.
Other really important projects - suggestions: The Ligeti Project (Erato); Colin Davis' first set of Belioz recordings - not least helping to get Les Troyens appreciated; Stravinsky's Columbia recordings; and Bernstein's Mahler - in the round, three cycles.
Here's a suggestion for another important recording project: Charles Gerhardt's "Classic Film Scores" series.
I look forward to the episode on the complete Bach cantatas!!
My recommendation is for a meta-project: the Naxos Music Group.
An idea for the next series: “the most famous unfinished recording projects”!
By, The way, I forgot to thank you so much for this one on Scott Ross's Scarlatti Sonatas -- my research into/listening to 'authentic' period keyboard instruments coincided with this wonderful set ( and Leonhardts Goldbergs and '48'.)
Another idea: Mompou's complete piano music played by the composer himself when he was around 80. It's in 4 CD in Brilliant Classics, and although the sound is not that good and he was a bit old, it's still a reference for his freedom and flexibility.
In the same vein, all the Britten recordings conducting his own operas.
Have you heard Britten's recording of Mozart's Prague with the English Chamber Orchestra? Amazing!
Johann Strauss complete orchestral music - first on Marco Polo, now in a big Naxos box. Yes, Dave, I know you're not a great Strauss family fan, but.....
A recent choice: the Bru Zane vocal and opera recordings. Those are generally excellent recordings of forgotten but historically relevant pieces, in good sound, with lavish booklets.
Naturally, I agree, too, with the obvious choices: Mackerras' Janaček operas, Doráti's Haydn, etc.
I do wish Bru Zane was more OCD about cuts, but most of their issues are important. The new recording of Franck's Hulda is a great improvement over the admittedly pioneering Naxos issue.
Totally unrelated, Dave, a wonderful 4th of July to you tomorrow. I hope you take the time to listen to Margaret Buechner's fabulous meditation, "The Flight of the American Eagle." I think your viewers would love it. Not widely known or appreciated.
Sorry to write so much....Warner reissued the complete set. And in that box, Warner reprinted the text descriptions of each sonata found in the Chambure book(leaving out the themes in music notation). They also added an interview with Ross.
I have a suggestion for another video in this series,,one of the most important recording projects ever, the complete Haydn symphonies under Dorati.
The complete set is on TH-cam.
So, will the MDG edition of all the Hindemith Sonatas for whatever kind of instrument + piano be covered in this series? ;-) ...
Like it or not, Dave (and I know that you don't!) if you are talking about important recording projects that changed the way we think about and listen to familiar classical music, then it has to be Sir Roger Norrington's Beethoven Symphonies with the London Classical players. The Harnoncourt/Leonhardt complete Bach Sacred Cantatas will, surely, be among your next "most important recording projects ever" - a project of yours which I heartily applaud -- even if you and I seem not to agree on many things! Very best wishes, Dave, Colin.
Norrington, no way. You greatly overestimate his importance. People like Scherchen or Leibowitz were doing Beethoven's metronome markings and the like decades earlier, and the use of period instruments is not material, for all the PR to the contrary.
Another really important project ever: Leonhardt and Harnoncourt Bach canatas.
Why didn't you choose the Pieter-Jan Belder recordings. Just wondering.... 😊
Because it came later.
I nominate the complete Sibelius project by Chandos. A universe unto itself. Also, the complete Mozart symphonies by Karl Bohm. Opened Mozart up to us, beyond the 6 or 7 most really experienced.
Paul G.
Do you mean the Sibelius Edition on BIS?
@@jackminot2431 yes, my mistake, on BIS.
The completeness of this set is remarkable and, for the collector, rather wonderful, but i have to say - and maybe it's not permitted to say this - the performances aren't always of the first rank. I'm comparing individual sonatas that I've got to know in other recordings which have greater poise or greater drama or beauty, or simply a much better harpsichord sound. But I still come back to Scott Ross for the completeness!
Howard Shelley's Liszt!
Make that Leslie Howard!!
You're probably thinking of Leslie Howard, who has recorded the complete piano output of Liszt on Hyperion, including some stuff that exists only in manuscript and even occasionally updating with recently discovered works.
I listened to it all, and the performances are all of high quality, although there are many works I prefer by other artists.
The mind boggles to consider that a single human being could find the time even just to notate so much music let alone compose and play it, and still find leisure for the extraordinarily busy private & public life that Liszt had.
🤯🙈Leslie Howard of course! But this Howard plays the piano as well.
@@Pablo-gl9dj i purchased this at Berkshire Discount Records for 120
A very important recording indeed. I would suggest to always say "Domenico Scarlatti" or "D. Scarlatti" instead of just "Scarlatti". As his father, Alessandro, was a genius of almost equal importance. He wrote beautiful Italian vocal music (see his influence on Handel's cantatas). Two such genius in the same family is not a frequent case : in Bach or Couperin families, for example, there is obviously a predominant one.
Everyone knows who we mean when I say "Scarlatti." If any clarification is necessary, it would be to specify the father, not the son.