Musical feast, Scarlatti magic
MELBOURNE SPRING EARLY MUSIC FESTIVAL
Michele Benuzzi, Trinity College Chapel October 7
www.music.unimeib.edu.au
AUTHENTIC Scarlatti came to the fore in Michele Benuzzi's harpsichord recital at Trinity College Chapel, one of the keynote recitals in the current Spring Early Music Festival. This young artist specialises in Domenico Scarlatti sonatas, having performed the complete list - over 500 of them. He performed 12 on Sunday and showed an attractive buoyancy in his approach, especially in the sets of tonally matched pairs, as in his opening brace the Sonatas in D major K. 45 and D minor K. 213.
Benuzzi emphasises the individuality to be found in these works, which many another exponent turns into a series of digital studies and showed a willingness to break up the regular pulse, giving room for pauses and, after a suspenseful break, hurtling rapidly into a flurry of semiquavers that seemed to have no reason to stop. But one of Benuzzi's most impressive talents was the seamless manner in which he observed the repeats of each half to these works. Whereas most interpreters make an emphatic point, Benuzzi incorporates the repetition into each sonata's structure so that the listener is not confined by obvious formal delineation but encouraged to take the work in as a long uninterrupted arc.
What could have been predictable musicmaking took on vivid character, animating music that would have been unfamiliar to those of us who know the more dogeared Scarlatti sonatas and demonstrating the refreshing insights of a dedicated young musician.
Clive O'Connell, Reviewer