Englishman Frith approaches Scarlatti from a slightly more romantic angle than previous performers in this series. While on the romantic side, he does not make it into the frank romantic territory of Horowitz or the almost enigmatic post-modernism of Ivo Pogorelich. Frith lightly brushes on his romantic shades, never obscuring the Baroque pastels of the sonatas. This is best illustrated on the slower pieces such as the Sonata in B Flat Major, “K.266”, which has a slightly melancholy lullaby temperament as does the Sonata in A Major, “K.536”.

Unlikely as it may sound, American Ragtime composer Scott Joplin shares several artistic elements in common with Domenico Scarlatti. Both composed in multiple musical idioms, yet are best known for their keyboard composing. Within that idiom, both composers specialized in short pieces, or miniatures, which have typically been used as practice exercises. For those familiar with Joplin and not Scarlatti, these similarities may serve as a segue into the great Baroque composer’s keyboard repertoire.

“Estamos ante el quinto compacto dedicado integramente a las sonatas de quien fue el sexto de los 10 hijos del tambien musico Alessandro Scarlatti. Domenico se destaco, ademas de su labor como compositor, como notable clavecinista…Sus sonatas son piedra angular de todas las composiciones y estilos que le siguieron, y las 16 que integran este registro discografico a cargo del pianista Benjamin Frith, son un ejemplo de fuente invaluable para el repertorio de cualquier tecladista.”

“Benjamin Frith is an inspired choice for the fifth disc in Naxos's cycle, a compelling advocate of the piano, distilling the essence of harpsichord techniques—the sparkle of plucked strings, coruscating articulation, layered contrasts and unaccented ornaments. But this is no mere mimicry; rather, he transports the music to the new medium, capitalising on the piano's ability to pick out a strand, shape dynamics and bathe textures in subtle pedalling, without ever misrepresenting Scarlatti—a disc to convert the most diehard authenticist.”