The Sunday Listen: 'Sonata in D Major (K 119)' by Scarlatti
I recently discovered the recordings of Marcelle Meyer, and this 1954 recording of the glorious Scarlatti K119 Sonata is no exception to Meyer’s flawless technique and crystalline clarity.
Born in 1897, Meyer studied in Paris and soon found herself in a remarkable artistic milieu that enabled her to become acquainted with some of the most important and innovative composers, musicians, and artists of the early 20th century.
When the 20-year-old Meyer played the premiere of Erik Satie’s Parade in 1917 — a collaboration that involved Picasso, Cocteau, and Diaghilev’s Ballets Russes — she became Satie’s favourite pianist and was approached by an appreciative Debussy, who then coached her in the last year of his life (Meyer went on to record all of Debussy’s Preludes).
Meyer later became the unofficial pianist of the innovative group of composers known as Les Six — in fact, a 1922 painting called Le Groupe des Six features her more prominently than its official members — and she premiered many of their works while also being commissioned for performances with Ravel, Strauss, and Stravinsky.
Her playing was often praised by the critics, who found her performances of even the most difficult music breathtaking: ‘Miss Meyer has a technique of the sort which does not recognize the existence of difficulties’ was the response to a performance of Stravinsky’s Three Movements from Petrushka.
Although she had a career through the 1950s, it was the interwar years where she really held her fame. She had to leave Paris after WWII because she had played concerts for the Germans and after 1947, she settled in Rome.
Have a lovely Sunday!