A Man of Genius

After devoting his first two Arcana albums to Johann Sebastian Bach and George Frideric Händel, Francesco Corti now turns his attention to Domenico Scarlatti, the third great keyboard composer of the generation from 1685. For this recording, he has selected a group of sonatas that were copied in 1752 and 1753, strictly arranged in pairs. It concentrates on works from the same period and demonstrates the composer's extraordinary ability to expand the boundaries of sonata form and extensively develop his thematic material. Instrumental virtuosity and an experimental approach to harpsichord sound go hand in hand with an astonishing formal freedom, combined with a playful sense of structure and expectation. Corti has chosen to perform these sonatas on a Humeau harpsichord, a copy of Italian models (thanks to Bertrand Cuiller), and to record them in the Abbey of Royaumont.