Posted by Arnold on December 09, 19101 at 22:46:11:

In Reply to: K 18 posted by Stephen on November 30, 19101 at 21:16:06:

: Hi guys,

: Ok, who else plays K 18? If you haven't yet, try it and see if it keeps small children and animals away for you like it did for me.

: It's mad, I tell you. Mad!

: Stephen

Hi Stephen! I don't play it, but I've got a couple of recordings of it, and mad it is. All that perpetual motion 16ths is like a lot of Bach, but the crazy variety of motives and phrases Scarlatti achieves within it is seldom seen in Bach outside of a few sonata-style movements (the Praeambulum to Partita #5 is one such).

Especially I dig the page in 18-20 and elsewhere for in-your-face dissonance. And the way Scarlatti toys with the modulation--is it to A minor (not uncommon) or A major?

At least half the sonatas are masterpieces, but it seems the percentage is even higher in the first thirty, the Essercizi, and K 18 is one of the great ones.
Seems also more developed.

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