Marcelle Meyer 7 Sonatas Scarlatti

CD - 11 - Scarlatti

01. Scarlatti - Sonate en ré majeur, Kk.478
02. Sonate en ré majeur, Kk.492
03. Sonate en mi majeur, Kk.380
04. Sonate en si mineur, Kk.27
05. Sonate en si mineur, Kk.245
14. Sonae en ré mineur, Kk.32
15. Sonate en la mineur, Kk.175

For a Budget Desert Island February 7, 2009, By Mark Arnest (amazon.com)

"Marcelle Meyer is one of the greatest pianists whose name is almost unknown in the US. This is a fantastic set - spontaneous, imaginative pianism, wide-ranging and marvelous repertoire, and decent sound (mostly from the early- to mid-1950s, though the 78s, most from the late 1940s, have also been extremely well remastered). She's most famous for her Debussy and Ravel, partly for the intrinsic value of her playing, and partly because she studied with Ricardo Vines, who premiered many of those composers' works. But just as wonderful are the generous helpings of Scarlatti, Bach, Chabrier (maybe the best on record), Schubert, Rameau, Stravinsky, Rossini and others.

What about those who have the previous EMI "Introuvables" reissues of Meyer? This set contains about 60 performances not available on the previous sets, but only four new pieces of repertoire - the Espla "Sonata del Sur para piano y orquesta," one Scarlatti sonata (K. 8), one Rameau miniature, and Haydn's Sonata #34 in E minor from a piano roll (which, given the unreliability of piano rolls, may not quite count). Quite a few of the performances, especially among the 78s, have had their pitch corrected. But the sound of the tape performances, which is most of the music, is virtually identical, and not necessarily better when it's different. I'm very glad I made the upgrade, but please note that I'm a fanatic..."