Eri Mantani has all of the ingredients for good Scarlatti pianism at her beck and call: technical finesse, a beautiful sound, and stylish sensitivity. If only her interpretations were more consistent. She can be generic and bland, shaping the music with generalized articulation and predictable dynamics. For example, in the K. 44 F major, the quick upward scales might have gained a soupçon of character with extra rhythmic kicks, as in Carlo Grante’s more humorously-inflected performance. Mantani also downplays the military drum implications of the K. 475 E-flat major’s repeated-note phrases, while the familiar K. 87 B minor emerges square and matter-of-fact. Yet if you persevere, you’ll discover enough inspired moments to give this disc a fighting chance.
Mantani’s rollicking briskness and perky accents in the K. 492 D major not only give Yevgeny Sudbin a run for his money, but also eschew his textual emendations (filled-in chords, octave transpositions, etc.). The K. 135 E major emerges softer-grained and gentler than often performed, but Mantani’s crisp and enlivening embellishments move things along. While certain pianists conceive of the K. 478 D major as a minuet, Mantani is in sarabande mode, taking her sweet time singing out the phrases, enjoying every minute, and with full repeats. The pianist is well served by MDG’s full-bodied surround-sound engineering and the label’s wonderfully plangent vintage 1901 house Steinway grand.
