The main source for vol 2 (CACD 9209-2) is a disc by Patricia Pagny on
the French label De Plein Vent (
www.depleinvent.com), DPV CD9346. The
remaining tracks are taken from Balázs Szokolay (Naxos 8.550252, also
used in vol 1) and Sergei Babayan (Pro Piano PPR224506, used again in
vol 3):
"Hatto" track 1: K. 8 = Babayan
Track 2: K. 39 = Pagny (different from Tomsic's K. 39 on vol 1)
Track 3: K. 60 = Pagny
Track 4: K. 63 = Pagny
Track 5: K. 96 = Pagny
Track 6: K. 118 = Babayan
Track 7: K. 132 = Szokolay
Track 8: K. 87 = Szokolay (same track appears on vol 1!)
Track 9: K. 209 = Pagny
Track 10: K. 239 = Pagny
Track 11: K. 319 = Pagny
Track 12: K. 322 = Szokolay
Track 13: K. 371 = Pagny
Track 14: K. 474 = Szokolay
Track 15: K. 427 = Babayan
Track 16: K. 430 = Pagny
Track 17: K. 454 = Pagny
Track 18: K. 492 = Pagny
Track 19: K. 495 = Pagny
As with vol 1, timings of the originals and copies are essentially
identical, and the "unique" elements I could identify in each track
(patterns of rubato, accents or ornaments, or the rare fingerslip)
matched to the second. Sound has again been "homogenized" so that the
three sources sound roughly similar (on speakers, that is; I may be
missing other alterations detectable on headphones). On closer
listening (and in retrospect, of course), three different patterns of
ambience can be discerned: Szokolay quite dry, Babayan quite resonant
(what Pro Piano calls "pianist's perspective recording") and Pagny in
the middle. In all cases, though, I think the original sound is
preferable--more immediate, detailed and full-bodied--and switching
from "Hatto" to the original is like comparing an early CD transfer of
an analog recording to one that's been "opened up."
Pagny's Scarlatti is perfectly fine--crisp, clean, minimally pedaled,
often charming--without necessarily being "competitive" with standard
recommendations (Horowitz, Pletnev, etc). She has a habit of inserting
micro-pauses in all sorts of places--before new phrases, before
downbeats, sometimes in the middle of measures--and while this seems
affected after awhile at least it makes her work easy to identify.
Mr. B-C's choices, when he could have copied the same sonata from more
than one disc, are usually safe (choosing the more generic
performance), sometimes more interesting (Babayan's K. 118 vs.
Pagny's). In one case, though, he seems to have broken his own rule
and made an idiosyncratic selection--Szokolay's unusually fast K. 132
which has little Cantabile feeling, hardly "Hatto-like" at all! Why he
included the same K. 87 on vols 1 and 2, and slightly different K. 39s
on each, isn't clear; at the time I bought the discs I assumed these
were just editing glitches, perhaps reflecting a new label trying to
get its act together.
About half of vol 3 (besides the Babayan and Tipo items already
identified) tentatively traces to a disc on a Belgian label featuring
a pianist who's never been mentioned before in r.m.c.r., according to
Google, though IIRC the disc was reviewed in Fanfare. To be
continued....
Seth Adelman
