Benjamin Frith is no stranger to Naxos customers, having previously graced the catalog with a Mendelssohn cycle, John Field’s Nocturnes, and other releases. Here he makes his first (and hopefully not last) appearance in Naxos’ ongoing series devoted to the complete Scarlatti Sonatas. The playing is splendid. Frith’s varied and intelligently deployed dynamic palette, together with his rounded, singing tone, conjures an intimate, poetic aura that’s diametrically opposed to the brash, vivacious sound world Mikhail Pletnev brings to this repertoire. I like how Frith keeps the textures alive and vibrant by making very subtle changes in voicing on the repeats (the bass lines and trills in the D major K. 214 sonata, for instance). His unruffled, effortless scales and arpeggios may not bite with the individuality of a Horowitz or Schiff, but their elegant symmetry still delights the ear. With Naxos’ first-class sonics, fine notes, and modest price, you can’t go wrong.
