Gottlieb Wallisch is a clean and scrupulous Scarlatti pianist who obviously practiced these 18 sonatas to the bone. Yet the performances generally lack charm and idiomatic flair. For example, his emphatic accents and unwillingness to shape melodic lines in an effortless, singing manner results in an angular, sometimes monochrome reading of the usually lyrical K. 462 F minor. The A minor K. 61’s march-like rhythms and fast ornaments are rigid and unyielding, as are the C major K. 406’s spiky and overly loud arpeggiated motives. Wallisch’s well-drilled fingers in the D major K. 224, B-flat K. 545, and B minor K. 376 sonatas would have gained from lighter, more effortless articulation. In other words, this is music that should sound as if it naturally falls from a pianist’s sleeve, rather than shot from a staple gun. Not one of the Naxos Scarlatti cycle’s memorable releases.
