GALUPPI Keyboard Sonatas, Vol. 1

"Naxos has enriched the catalogue with numerous complete cycles of neglected repertoire. One of its latest ventures is a series featuring the complete keyboard sonatas (many of them unpublished) by the Italian pre-Classicist Baldasare Galuppi (1706–85), stylishly played by Mateo Napoli on a modern Steinway Model ‘D’ grand. Galuppi provides a vital link between the rococo patternings of Domenico Scarlatti and the young Mozart’s uncluttered clarity. Napoli creates the ideal sound-world, pedalling with commendable subtlety in the faster movements and casting an attractive, romantic halo over the opening Andante spititoso of the F minor Sonata, Illy 9. Echo effects and dynamic shadings are handled with enviable poise, even if Galuppi’s natural smiling exhuberance feels a shade muted here." --International Record Review, July 2011

Venetian composer Baldassare Galuppi’s reputation rests principally on his pioneering series of comic operas. But, trained by Antonio Lotti, Galuppi was also a keyboard player of distinction who served at the court of Catherine the Great in St Petersburg. Twelve keyboard sonatas were published during his lifetime, but Hedda Illy’s catalogue lists over 100 and reveals that Galuppi not only inherited the brilliance and panache of Domenico Scarlatti but anticipated the expressive writing of Mozart. The first volume in Matteo Napoli’s series (8572263) was commended as “a good choice for connoisseurs of 18th century keyboard music.” (MusicWeb International)

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