Diego Ares - Antonio Soler: Sol de mi fortuna (2015) [Official Digital Download 24/88]

Who would have thought that the principal source for the music of Padre Antonio Soler was still waiting to be discovered? The manuscript acquired by the Morgan Library of New York in 2011 has proved to be the richest extant collection of sonatas by Soler; 29 of them are unpublished. For his first recording on harmonia mundi, the young harpsichordist Diego Ares reminds us of the powerful impression the composer made on a grandee of Spain in 1765: ‘Fray Antonio Soler produces finer sonatas from day to day.’ Listening to this disc, one cannot but agree: each sonata is indeed a world unto itself.

"I felt it was the best way to express my gratitude for the opportunity I have been given here to share these wonderful pieces. They reveal to us the pupil of Scarlatti, the ‘scolare dil Sr. Scarlati’; and whether they transport us to the streets of Madrid, evoke the carillon he played on feast days, or hold us spellbound with his harpsichord in the intimate environment of his cell, the sonatas of Antonio Soler, radiant with light and joy, really do seem to emanate from a sun, that ‘Sol de mi fortuna’!" Diego Ares [from his excellent booklet note]

Diego Ares was born in 1983 and studied the piano with Alis Jurgelionis and Aldona Dvarionaité and the harpsichord with Pilar Cancio, Richard Egarr, Jörg-Andreas Bötticher and Jesper B. Christensen. The harpsichord maker Joel Katzman, the pianist László Gyimesi, the harpsichordists Rafael Puyana and Genoveva Gálvez, and study of historical recordings have guided his work and his research.

Diego Ares appears in concert throughout Europe, chiefly in Switzerland, Spain, Germany, France and Benelux; he also performs in Japan. He began making recordings in 2006, and his two most recent releases on Pan Classics, devoted to Soler and Scarlatti, were both highly acclaimed by the press (Diapason d’Or, Excepcional in Scherzo magazine).

Tracklist:

Antonio Soler (1729-1783)

01 Preludio No. 3 in C Major 00:56
02 Sonata No. 1 in C Major : Andante 02:55
03 Sonata No. 2 in C Major: Prestissimo 04:53
04 Sonata No. 17 in A Minor : Andantino 02:48
05 Sonata No. 18 in A Minor: Allegro 03:25
06 Sonata No. 40 in D Minor: Allegretto 05:09
07 Sonata No. 38 in D Major: Allegro non tanto 03:13
08 Sonata No. 11 in B-Flat Major: Andantino 03:22
09 Sonata No. 12 in B-Flat Major: Allegro 02:43
10 Interludio 00:19
11 Sonata No. 7 in A Major: Allegretto 03:18
12 Sonata No. 8 in A Major: Allegro Sofrible 04:06
13 Preludio No. 4 in F Minor 01:08
14 Sonata No. 13 in F Minor: Andantino 03:20
15 Sonata No. 14 in F Minor: Allegro 03:22
16 Sonata No. 42 in A-Flat Major: Andantino 03:18
17 Sonata No. 43 in A-Flat Major: Allegro 02:49
18 Interludio [D. Ares] 00:23
19 Sonata No. 25 in B Minor: Andante 03:44
20 Sonata No. 26 in B Minor: Allegro 01:47
21 Sonata No. 30 in D Major: Allegro 03:15
22 Sonata No. 31 in D Major: Andantino 03:08
23 Interludio "El inredo se deshace" 00:39
24 Sonata No. 15 in C Major: Andantino 03:10
25 Sonata No. 16 in C Major: Allegro 03:36
26 Canon a 4: Viva la fama de esse Sol de mi fortuna 02:10

Personnel:
Diego Ares, Harpsichord