Debora Halasz - Carlos Seixas - Harpsichord Sonatas, Vol.2 (2011)

In 2006, Naxos and the Brazilian pianist and harpsichordist Debora Halasz released the first of what was promised to be the first of a series of the keyboard sonatas of the relatively little-known Portuguese composer Carlos de Seixas. Carlos de Seixas: Harpsichord Sonatas 1 The album was a rare treat, but it was not until 2011 that this second volume of de Seixas sonatas was released again performed with passion and flair by Halasaz. As in the initial recording, Halasaz performs on a replica of a 1734 instrument that was built for her. The harpsichord has a deep, full and rich sound.
De Seixas was a younger contemporary of Domenico Scarlatti (1695 -- 1757). While Scarlatti came into his own as a composer of keyboard works late in life, de Seixas was a prodigy who served as organist to the Chapel Royal and the Patriarchal Cathedral in Lisbon from the age of sixteen. He and Scarlatti knew each other and worked together for the Portuguese Royal family from 1723 -- 1729, when Scarlatti moved to Spain. The younger and the older composer influenced each other. They both composed short keyboard sonatas which, in Scarlatti's case especially, consisted of a single movement in two related parts each of which was repeated. Listeners familiar with Scarlatti will immediately hear the resemblance to de Seixas. A third composer, Antonio Soler, (1729 -- 1783) may have studied with Scarlatti, and his keyboard sonatas have much in common with both Scarlatti and de Seixas. Soler and de Seixas tend to use more multiple movement works than did Scarlatti.
Much of de Seixas' music has been lost, but there is a collection of 80 keyboard sonatas compiled by a modern day scholar, Macario Santiago Kastner. (There are over 650 surviving sonatas by Scarlatti). The 80 sonatas are grouped together by key and are the subject of Halasz ongoing recording project, sponsored by Naxos and by Bayerischer Rundfunk.
This CD includes 17 de Seixas sonatas, of which 10 are in the single movement form favored by Scarlatti. There are nine sonatas with two movements and one sonata with three movements. The movements tend to be brief as compared to Soler's multi-movement sonatas. The multi-movement works usually include an allegro and dance movements such as a gigue or minuet. The sonatas are mostly short. They range in time on this CD from 1:15 for the sonata no 45 in G major to 9:37 for the single movement sonata no. 16 in c minor. The works do not follow Kastner's ordering on the CD. The CD opens with five single movement works, and the remainder of the disk includes multi-movement works interspersed with single movement compositions. The initial work in Kastner's ordering, a short, sprightly single movement sonata in C major appears late in the CD. Of the sonatas 12 are in the major key and 5 in the minor.