Scarlatti Sonatas hierarchy of difficulty

[ObiWanSymbian]

Hi,

I’m diving into the classical world and have currently learned the Scarlattis’s A Major Sonata for guitar (K322).

Is there an established hierarchy of difficulty for the sonatas?

The K322 seems to be on the easier side of the spectrum. But I’ve seen some recordings of pieces which are way to difficult.

How to climb the ladder? If there is any.

Also, what is your advice on a complete album of the sonatas? Most of the recordings I found contain only a couple of the sonatas.

Thank you!

[Gitfiddlemann]

Is there an established hierarchy of difficulty for the sonatas?

To my knowledge there isn't. Some are considered "easier" than others, usually because they are less demanding in terms of sheer technical dexterity. But even the slower ones are all pretty demanding musically imo.

How to climb the ladder? If there is any.

What I would do is listen to a bunch of them, and pick out the ones you like the most. They require a lot of attention, so it's important to really like the piece so you can stick with it and give it its due.

Also, what is your advice on a complete album of the sonatas? Most of the recordings I found contain only a couple of the sonatas.

I think Scarlatti wrote over 500 of these keyboard sonatas, so I'm not sure that all of them were transcribed for the guitar, but a great deal of them were.
My favorite recording of 12 of them is by Leo Brouwer. You can hear them on YouTube.
Here is my list of really nice ones that I think are accessible and worth the time and effort: (in addition to K322 that you mentioned).
K208 (A maj), K380 (E maj), K544 (D maj) and K11 (Em).
(Note: These were also cataloged by Longo with different numbers and L as prefix. Ex: K380/L23.)
Enjoy your search and practice!

[Su_H.]

Andre, you are full of knowledge. I've been listening to a lot of classical pieces on YouTube in an attempt to find a piece to learn. Can you make a few suggestions?

[Carey]

That Brouwer disc of Scarlatti Sonatas that Andre F mentions has been a big inspiration to me, too. So much life in his playing there! Just wish it had/has
been released on CD.

One of my favorites is K.336, recorded by David Tanenbaum when he was still playing a John Gilbert guitar.. way too hard for me to do it justice, but I work on it anyway.

[Gitfiddlemann]

Originally Posted by Su_H.

I've been listening to a lot of classical pieces on YouTube in an attempt to find a piece to learn. Can you make a few suggestions?

Hi Su H., I can try. So that we don’t interfere with the OP’s thread, pm me what your preferences lean towards and hopefully some good candidates will emerge.

[ObiWanSymbian]

Originally Posted by AndreF

Hi Su H., I can try. So that we don’t interfere with the OP’s thread, pm me what your preferences lean towards and hopefully some good candidates will emerge.

AndreF, your response was very helpful!

I’ll check the recordings. If I’m not mistaken Drew Henderson has just published one of the Sonatas you suggested.
Also, feel free to answer other questions asked here, as I’ll obviously be more than happy to learn from your advice.

Thank you again!!!!

[Gitfiddlemann]

Hi ObiWan (and Su H.),
I was digging through my musical files yesterday and found an old favorite Scarlatti sonata of mine that I used to play way back when I was taking classical guitar lessons. You might enjoy this one too.
It's fast, but very short, only 16 measures. The thing is though, it looks and sounds a lot harder than it really is. It's in a friendly and lively guitar key (AMaj) and falls well under the fingers. And once you get it memorized, you can work on speeding things up. It's a great technical exercise too in this regard.
It's K431/L83. Here is a good YouTube version I found of the piece:

[Su_H.]

Originally Posted by AndreF

Hi ObiWan (and Su H.),
I was digging through my musical files yesterday and found an old favorite Scarlatti sonata of mine that I used to play way back when I was taking classical guitar lessons. You might enjoy this one too.
It's fast, but very short, only 16 measures. The thing is though, it looks and sounds a lot harder than it really is. It's in a friendly and lively guitar key (AMaj) and falls well under the fingers. And once you get it memorized, you can work on speeding things up. It's a great technical exercise too in this regard.
It's K431/L83. Here is a good YouTube version I found of the piece:

I liked it a lot. Thank you for sharing, Andre.

[ObiWanSymbian]

Originally Posted by AndreF

Hi ObiWan (and Su H.),
I was digging through my musical files yesterday and found an old favorite Scarlatti sonata of mine that I used to play way back when I was taking classical guitar lessons. You might enjoy this one too.
It's fast, but very short, only 16 measures. The thing is though, it looks and sounds a lot harder than it really is. It's in a friendly and lively guitar key (AMaj) and falls well under the fingers. And once you get it memorized, you can work on speeding things up. It's a great technical exercise too in this regard.
It's K431/L83. Here is a good YouTube version I found of the piece:

Thank you!