Daria van den Bercken DOMENICO SCARLATTI Sonatas

There’s a sense of care about the whole production here, from the specially created cover art to the choice of sonatas. Daria van den Bercken is alive to the gentler side of Scarlatti’s creations as well as their brilliance, bringing warmth to the opening sonata, Kk183 in F minor. In Kk109 there’s intimacy, too, the trills clear but not overly prominent, while Kk519 has a quiet sparkle to it. Kk212 is another highlight, with van den Bercken relishing the harmonic tensions and adding fastidious ornamentation.

One of the enduring fascinations of Scarlatti is the way a single sonata can respond to a wide variety of approaches. Van den Bercken takes Kk119 at a relatively sedate pace – others, not least Sudbin in his recent Scarlatti disc (BIS, 4/16), are more outlandish. Kk27, on the other hand, is relatively swift here, but it has its own allure, the ritardandos and accelerandos sounding entirely natural. However, I did find Kk32 just too slow, leaving its beautiful melody sounding a little stilted. Sudbin is also steady but maintains more of a sense of line; he takes considerably more liberties than van den Bercken but he makes them work, thanks to his sense of conviction. She is also a little too smooth-edged in Kk230, which really comes to life in Scott Ross’s classic recording on harpsichord (Erato, 6/88).

Occasionally I wanted a bit more oomph: the hunt-infused Kk159 is too genteel – more of a sedate outing on a seaside donkey than a canter through the fields. Queffélec (Apex, 3/95) is a real speed merchant here but it’s thrilling, and Hewitt (Hyperion, 2/16), not quite so feckless, gets more of a sense of the chase in her reading. But the much-recorded Kk87 is another winner, its undulating lines warmly shaped and full of enticing detail, such as the slightly detached left-hand counterpoint at 4'03". She ends as she began, in a mood of gentle good humour with Kk544. (Harriet Smith / Gramophone)