Two Scarlatti Sonatas by Scarlatti arr. Mario Gaetano

Scarlatti’s keyboard sonatas were composed mainly for the harpsichord or early fortepiano, are in single movements, and are binary or early sonata form. Many of the works show the influence of Portuguese or Spanish folk music, and many of his musical figurations are suggestive of the guitar. 

The American musicologist Ralph Kirkpatrick produced an edition of the sonatas in 1953, and the numbering (Kk. or K.) from this edition is now the standard. Previously, the numbering system commonly used was from the 1906 edition compiled by the Neapolitan pianist Alessandro Longo (L. numbers). Kirkpartick’s numberings is chronological, while Longo’s ordering is result of his grouping of sonatas into “suites.” The two arrangements in this small collection include Sonata in G Major K.2 L.388 and Sonata in e minor K.98 L.325.