Richard Lester’s recordings of Scarlatti’s 555 harpsichord sonatas have been appearing at a rate almost too fast to keep up with – this is the 13th two-disc volume out of 18, and the first one only came out in 2001. Impressive work by any standards, but even more remarkable considering that – as recording the complete Scarlatti sonatas, walking to the North Pole or sailing around the world single-handed can often be – Lester’s appears to be an essentially self-motivated endurance test.

As in previous releases, Lester presents a complete volume from the collection of manuscripts which once belonged to Scarlatti’s pupil Queen Maria Barbara of Spain. It is thus a somewhat haphazard selection, though it does preserve the same-key pairings of sonatas which seem to have gone out of fashion among Scarlatti performers in recent years (as, come to think of it, has using a harpsichord). There are also some relatively familiar works in the shape of the C major Pastorale, Kk513, and the typically Spanish-sounding D major ‘trilogy’, Kk490-92.

Lester’s instrument contributes a sound both punchy and pungent, though the former is maybe a tad over-emphasised by the recording. The playing itself is neat, accurate and crisply controlled, if missing in some places the sheer brilliance of the music and in others its drowsy poetry. Lester enjoys himself in the D major trilogy (lingering here and there and throwing in the odd extra ‘Spanish-ism’ of his own) and in a well characterised and contrasted Pastorale, but some other, more dogged sonatas might have benefitted from greater variety of touch. Nevertheless, this is a reliable and enterprising Scarlatti project and a completist’s dream.