Scarlatti stands in an unusual position in musical history. Chronologically, he is between the baroque and the classical. Geographically, he was an Italian working on the physical edge of Europe – in Spain and Portugal. Historically, his music has invited a range of instrumental approaches: some is tightly linked to the harpsichord or organ of is day, but some has born exploration on the newly-invented piano.

For this recording, Aline D’Ambricourt, using a variety of Italian, French and English harpsichords, is joined by Cyprien Katsaris and Michel Kiener on early pianos and Anne Chasseur on organ.

Only a small proportion of Scarlatti’s music was published in his lifetime. That didn’t help his reputation, and for subsequent generations a shortage of biographical information combined with an unusual musical style have tended to deflect attention from him. That is a pity, as there are some very rich musical pickings.

Charles Burney recounts a story of Thomas Roseingrave travelling round Europe and being well-received as a harpsichordist, until he encountered Scarlatti, who played as if there were “ten hundred devils at the instrument”. It is said that this left Roseingrave in such poor spirits that “if he had been in sight of an instrument with which to have done the deed, he would have cut off his own fingers”. D’Ambricourt’s visual and aural exploration gives a taste of the extraordinary musicianship of the man who drew so strong a reaction from Roseingrave, and engages both with the performance practice of his time, and with subsequent generations’ response to his music.