Sonata, K. 119 #1 Alessandro Scarlatti
I have really started to take a liking to the harpsichord, and especially to hear someone play it very well. Since there is no pedal, like on a piano, it is pretty much impossible to get a true feeling of fluidity in a piece unless it is allegro. In this piece the tempo is definitely at an allegro. It begins very choppy and jumpy in both hands, but soon smoothes out into these amazing runs that feel very fluid like. Scarlatti seems to use the runs to really increase the dramatic effect of the piece. He uses them to exaggerate that we are changing keys. Soon the left hand has the flowing melody in new key and the right hand is setting the bass of the chord progression by playing them staccato on the beat while the melody quickly turns and trills above. I noticed in this first section towards the end, to help build tension Scarlatti liked to use trills. The feeling of a trill kind of gives you the since of being unstable, but he soon resolves it all with a PAC at the end.
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You can read about similar legato problems on the harp here.
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