In this hour-and-a-quarter long recital, Maria Tipo introduces us to no less than 18 sonatas none of them among the most over-played of the composer's remarkable total of 555. All but three are in major keys, with no less than seven in G major alone. But there is not the slightest trace of monotony. Her selection makes you marvel anew at Scarlatti's apparently limitless variety of invention. She herself delights in his every fancy, giving almost as free rein to her own romantically inclined imagination as were she in the nineteenth century with Schumann or Chopin. Her dynamic contrasts are sharp-cut (she has a special liking for immediate piano echoes of forte statements), and her colour range at times suggests mental 'orchestration' of the music. Nor is she averse to the occasional wash of pedal for special expressive effect. Her rhythmic yieldings, although again expressive in intent, are a little more open to question on stylistic grounds. It's possible that some listeners may in fact find her whole approach a little too fussily detailed. They may prefer a sterner, more classical consistency of mood within each individual sonata.
For Tipo, however, each performance is a spontaneous voyage of discovery. Never can you anticipate what surprise Scarlatti has in store—not least in his rudimentary development sections—so generously does she respond to every passing innuendo. Nothing is more arresting than the last and longest work in the recital, the forward-looking B flat Sonata, Kk128. With its daring harmonic surprises, it in fact emerges more like some strange improvisatory fantasia than a preplanned argument in sonata-form. The recorded sound is wholly ingratiating and true.'