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Discography Press Reviews
This latest release is wholly consistent with the extraordinarily high standard set by Richard Lester in the first two volumes – and is to be recommended without reservation. Lester’s playing when taken with the immaculate preparation of the whole corpus puts the Nimbus set at the top of the list. Lester plays them with the telling and wholly positive possessiveness of a true teacher and lover of this wide and extensive soundscape. As if opening a case of jewels with pride, yet no hint of bombast or arrogance. Earlier single volumes of the sonatas of the Scarlatti sonatas by Lester who is a respected academic and writer in the UK and abroad, have been understandably very well received. Without empathy with the spirit of the sonatas, so substantial are they that it would be difficult to sustain freshness over a long haul, - Lester does – and without any kind of superficial novelty. Effects are carried off with vigour and a certain suaveness that does the music proud. His playing is light of touch and detached to the extent that the music speaks for itself; and at the same time intense and poetic. Lester’s gift is to present the sonatas as carefully crafted jewels; he’s immersed in the structure, sonorities and melodic invention of each and every one. As a result you never tire of hearing what is coming next. There is the feeling of a series of studies in the same way you have with Bach’s 48. Truly, that’s more a sense of unity and cohesion than anything dry and forced. Lester’s playing is so unselfconsciously careful, delicate without being clipped or brittle – and oh so poised. It’s hard not to be enthusiastic about this set – so enthusiastic, in fact as to be impatient for volume IV.
Musicweb International

Should be considered as first choice for potential collectors of the whole oeuvre… an enterprising Scarlatti project and a completist’s dream. Impressive work by any standards.
The Gramophone

Lovingly prepared.….giving literally hundreds of pieces their first really convincing performances.
Eighteenth Century Music Magazine

Full of conviction, colour and character.
BBC Music Magazine

Lester plays with total conviction and authority, characterizing and colouring each work with incisive ornamentation and clear voice-leading, and his technique is entirely up to the enormous and varied challenges of these works. One can only sit back in astonishment and marvel at the sheer originality of Scarlatti's keyboard writing, of which Lester is a most ardent and persuasive advocate.
International Record Review

There are several complete sets on the market, but Lester consistently pushes the boundaries. His playing is intense, sharp and powerfully rhythmic. All these traits add up to an interpretation that portrays Scarlatti as an almost Lisztian virtuoso – an interpretation to which his music certainly stands up.
All Music Guide. USA

…deserving of the highest praise and can be unreservedly recommended for lovers of this intriguing and evocative repertoire. Lester’s playing is as fresh and yet thoughtful as you could want…. a superb performer approaching each one with considered enthusiasm, and delight. The presentation of each work is clearly the result of much study and familiarity; these bring extra insight. If you want to experience the shimmering warmth of eighteenth century Spain, the elegance, vibrancy and somewhat rough-edged spirit of the court; and at the same time learn the intricate subtleties and profundities of Scarlatti’s seemingly endless invention, then buy this…
Musicweb International

What a wonderful achievement …with performances like this, no-one will be disappointed. There is very much to enjoy and Richard Lester has done the harpsichord world a great favour by presenting these pieces in this way… a splendid achievement.
Musical Pointers

It almost goes without saying that the playing in this set is well up to that of the other CD sets in the series. Lester's playing is consistent without being either trying or tiring. It's playing which could only be as inspired as it is because of love for and immersion in the music. This Lester achieves by both a first class technique and a real love for and engagement in the world in which Scarlatti was working. Lester is adventurous where experiment is needed; he holds back when restraint aids interpretation, and has a lightness of touch that is most persuasive. Above all, he plays with a consistent clarity and attention to detail – every phrase is articulated in crystalline fashion. But at the end you’ll feel the (truer because deeper) sense of a thoroughly composed miniature lacking nothing. To convey this without fuss or frills is Lester’s achievement. The way in which Lester adapts his approach and execution to the atmosphere of each sonata and group of sonatas is inspiring; he never looks for artificial decoration, or forced emotiveness. His style and execution are relaxed and natural, yet full of energy – all in exactly the right amounts. This is no mean achievement. Indeed Lester's approach is that of someone who both loves and is still in awe of this music. It really is the most pleasing playing and could make or break the whole experience. It makes it.
Musicweb International

The lively and compelling rhythms of the dance are as prominent as ever. Lester elicits subtlety in such passages and achieves the right balance between the very sound of the harpsichord he plays and the music ‘beyond’ the sonorities of any one instrument. There are some exciting, not to say exhilarating, moments – indeed the opening of K141 is chromatic, sparse and full of tension. The handling of both the onset of this drama and its release are reminders of just how good a technique Lester has. Listen to Lester’s tour de force in K 205 – nearly nine minutes of sustained balance and measured advance, not missing a beat, nor over-driving the insistent progressions. Breathtaking.
Classical net USA

.....the entire arsenal of Baroque keyboard virtuosity.
Fanfare Magazine

Clearly this is a huge undertaking, and a considerable labour of love, so it is wonderful to be able to recommend it absolutely wholeheartedly.
International Record Review

Ideal breakfast-time music to start the day…….and all gaining rave reviews
Musical Pointers

 Soler’s sonatas here have a strong Spanish dance flavour and Lester ends with a stunning account of the extraordinary extended Fandango.
Musical Pointers

‘immaculate clarity and articulation – neatly turned ornamentation – glistening scalistic flourishes.
International Record Review

Energetic. Decisive. Deliberate. Authoritative.  One could also almost add the word "exciting" to Lester's approach. For his style is certainly full of vigor and lightly-worn virtuosity. The amazing 10-minute "Fandango" with which the recital ends yields not a semiquaver to docility or drowsiness: it's spectacularly alive.
Classical net USA

 

These performances are musically persuasive all the way through.
All Music Guide USA

In keeping with the implicit brief which Lester has set himself for this recording, the qualities of elegance, self-confidence, wry humor and technical (compositional) exuberance, often disguised by apparent simplicity or even ingenuousness, are all evident – and wholly inspiring. Lester has a very deliberate and unambivalent style of playing. Neither dogmatic nor imposing; but supremely confident and full of vigor. There is a sense in which you are made to feel you are in the room with Lester (or Haydn!) and are hearing the music, if not for the first time, then hearing its nuances and subtleties afresh. This is quite an achievement. A valuable contribution to the celebrations of the 200th year since Haydn's death. But a fine addition to the Haydn discography at any time.
Classical Net USA

A spirited and decisive interpretation that is truly to be recommended. There is variety and freshness to the sequence of performances. What's more, by the end of the CD the listener feels a sense of occasion, of having moved through various changes in the composer's musical conception, almost. This is because Lester is so expert at conveying the architecture of these pieces ….because he embarks upon each one with a sense of adventure…., full of expressiveness and novelty (in the best sense of that word). On the evidence of this release - the others in the project are to be eagerly awaited. Full review..
http://www.classical.net/music/recs/reviews/n/nim05850a.php
 

If you enjoyed the first CD, this second will exceed your expectations. Now to have available as accomplished a projected series of recordings as this is truly a treat. Here is a performance and recording enterprise that deserves landmark status of its own. Unhesitatingly recommended. For full review visit:-   classical.net

Lester uses a wondrous G B Boni harpsichord of c 1619. The programme of Toccatas, Gagliardes and Partite is sequenced with the listener in mind, and gradually draws you into Frescobaldi's world. Good essays by Lester on the historical background, the music in this volume and performance practices are supplied in this distinguished release.
Musical Pointers

This playing has an eloquence, vitality and freshness which blows centuries of metaphorical dust off a composer who has not been particularly served by past generations of keyboard players.' The Toccatas are rooted in improvisation and it is that extemporaneous character which Lester most potently evokes in his marvellously free-flowing and coherently paced performances; as if he, too, is relishing the ideas as they come along and luxuriating in the music's numerous byways and diversions.' ....join the queue for the third and fourth discs when they appear. This is clearly going to be a series of great musical value as well as of highly enjoyable music-making from an authoritative and compelling advocate of this music.
Marc Rochester International Record Review

'Nothing dull about these performances which give the music every opportunity to speak.' Musicweb International.
Gary Higginson