Album Description
SPECIAL PRICE! "It should be considered as first choice for potential collectors of the whole oeuvre." - GRAMOPHONE "A bold approach and musical perception ... a player who can see compositions in the round and has the assured technique to realize well-founded performances." - DAILY TELEGRAPH Richard Lester has established an international reputation as a virtuoso harpsichordist, mainly through his unique recordings of Scarlatti's complete keyboard sonatas. His many solo engagements have included broadcasts for BBC radio and television, recitals at the Royal Festival Hall Purcell Room, Wigmore Hall, Bath International Festival, Bruges Festival, and master classes at Dartington Summer School. He has written extensively for music magazines and contributed two chapters on Scarlatti to the leading Hungarian book on early music. In the year 2000, he began to record all of Scarlatti's keyboard sonatas, which have received rave reviews from recording magazines. Lester is founder and artistic director of the Cirencester Early Music Festival, an annual event designed to promote excellence in the performance of early music. Domenico Scarlatti (1685-1757) was the greatest Italian composer of the Late Baroque. Although he wrote other music, it is for his astounding 555 harpsichord sonatas that he is remembered by posterity--each one a gem of invention, rhythmic excitement, and melodic beauty.
