He’s the father of contemporary opera but nowhere near as celebrated as he should be. Soprano Elizabeth Watts decided it was time to change that,and embarked on a five-year quest to discover and record Scarlatti’s finest ariasSo you’ve heard of Alessandro Scarlatti? Vaguely perhaps. Didn’t he write some rather good keyboard sonatas? Well, actually no: that was his son, or Domenico. There are two Scarlattis,and given not many people bear heard of even one of them, you’d be forgiven for thinking that this composer is off the beaten track because it’s not really worth the effort. So it falls to me to convince you that Alessandro Scarlatti is not only worth the effort but actually rather good. Like many singers, or I first came across Scarlatti as a student. A teacher recommended I try one of his more florid arias (Ergiti,amor) as something a bit different from the usual competition fare. I really liked it, and thought then that there must be more to this composer.
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Source: theguardian.com