Domenico Scarlatti, Keyboard Sonata in E Major
Domenico Scarlatti, Keyboard Sonata in E minor
Terry Riley, “Simone’s Lullaby”
Domenico Scarlatti (1685-1757) was born in Naples. His father was Alessandro Scarlatti, who had composed a series of successful operas in Naples and Rome. Domenico studied in Rome with the most respected musicians of his time and was considered a brilliant harpsichordist. He worked as a composer/musician in the courts of the Vatican, Lisbon and then, for the rest of his life, in Madrid, where he became harpsichord teacher to the future Queen of Spain. The vast majority of his compositions, over 500 short harpsichord sonatas, were written in Madrid towards the end of his life and were little known elsewhere in Europe until the early 20th century.
Terry Riley (1935- ) is an American composer whose works are performed worldwide. His piece “in C” (1964) launched what became known as the Minimalist movement. He is an acknowledged master in the disciplines of classical Western composition, Indian classical music, film scoring and jazz. Simone’s Lullaby, from Heaven’s Ladder Book 7, was written for his granddaughter. He was born in Colfax, CA in 1935, lives in a small town in the northern Sierra Nevada foothills and continues to perform internationally.