"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
I have a bland Haydn CD by her on the same label and the recording was done
on a Bösendorfer. What instrument does she play in the Scarlatti?
Peter Lemken
Berlin
No information given, and I wouldn't feel confident attempting to
guess just on the basis of the sound. Recordings were made at the
studio of Radio Suisse in Lugano, 5 and 6 December 1992.
Seth
Is this the Scarlatti CD by Pagny which you speak of? It would seem
not to have been released yet. Perhaps there was an earlier one?
TD
In other words, it's the same one, only it has not yet been released
in France.
Is that what you're trying to say?
Or is there a second CD of Pagny playing Scarlatti. The www.amazon.fr
site does not provide a cover or details on the contents.
TD
It is the same disc: see the track listing at alapage.com or
http://preview.tinyurl.com/yt5gh4 . The date at depleinvent.com is
given as 1993 (and the price is given in francs), so it looks as
though they've just re-released it or changed distributor.
FWIW, I've been checking French online stores for about three years
(for Scarlatti among other things), and don't recall Pagny's disc
being listed before, even at cdmail.fr which used to list discontinued
items, so I suspect the disc has been out of print for some time.
Seth