Like many Neapolitan families, the Scarlattis were a numerous clan. Alessandro, the most famous composer of operas and vocal music of his day, had two sisters who were singers and two brothers, one a buffo singer and the other (Francesco) a violinist and composer: his famous son Domenico was the sixth of his ten children, of whom only one other, however, was a musician. And then there were musical nephews and nieces... Only Alessandro and Domenico have left their mark on musical history: the cantata here by Francesco, for voice and continuo only, is a well-made professional composition of its period and a rarity, but not much more. (It does serve, however, to demonstrate some excellent harpsichord continuo playing.) But the cantata by Domenico, a pastoral idyll he wrote at the age of 16, is an eye-opener to those who know him only for his keyboard sonatas, with some full-textured string writing and, in the final siciliano, considerable harmonic subtlety. Its highlight is the expressive aria (by the teasing girl) “Io lo so”.
The bulk of this disc is, justifiably, devoted to Alessandro. Perche tacete (1694), a cantata about unrequited love, has a beautiful initial ritornello (a feature not present in either Domenico’s or Francesco’s) with pathetic harmonies, which is followed by a vivacious Presto (splendidly played by the Musica Alta Ripa strings). Its central point is a long aria in which the lover bids his beloved sleep although he himself lies awake in torment (a word whose meaning is underlined by the harmony). Expressive chromaticisms also figure in Bella dama (c1710), a reproach to a cruel beauty unworthy of the sacred name (of Maria), though feeling here is less intense and more elegant: a feature of this work is the duetting between voice and recorder. The two sonatas here are a delight, both in themselves and in their performance, the four-movement F major work highlighting recorder and violin duets, the inventive five-movement A minor treating the recorder more as a concertante instrument, though there is a sprightly central fugue and a merry ensemble finale which contrasts with the preceding movement, an unaccompanied duet for recorder and one violin. This sonata is an absolute winner!
It will have been observed that I have said nothing about Kai Wessel. He has a real understanding of the period, introduces stylish and abundant ornamentation, possesses a good clean trill and is admirably agile in florid passages, as in the final short aria of Perche tacete. But his vocal production is unappealingly hooty, with very little range of colour, so that monotony soon sets in, and his words (not sufficiently clearly enunciated in arias) lack expressiveness. A pity when so much about this disc – including the recorded quality – is so good.'