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Sonatas
Domenico Scarlatti

Philippe Thuriot

Sonatas

Price: € 19.95
Format: CD
Label: Challenge Classics
UPC: 0608917299427
Catnr: CC 72994
Release date: 07 June 2024
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Label
Challenge Classics
UPC
0608917299427
Catalogue number
CC 72994
Release date
07 June 2024

"Thuriot does not always play the notes directly from the score, but his improvisations sound stylistically appropriate, and it is easy to imagine that the composer himself would have approved."

Fanfare Magazine, 01-5-2025
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About the album

After explorations of the oeuvre of Bach and Couperin, he now devotes an entire programme to the keyboard music of Domenico Scarlatti. Although the latter called his sonatas Essercizi per gravicembalo (literally ‘studies for harpsichord’), they are so much more than finger exercises. Each and every one of them is a baroque gem, full of sparkling melodies and Spanish swing. Their virtuosity barely camouflages a warm melancholy. Philippe Thuriot improvises these enchanting sonatas together and breathes new life into them with his accordion.

Nach den Erkundungen des Werks von Bach und Couperin widmet er nun ein ganzes Programm der Tastenmusik von Domenico Scarlatti. Obwohl dieser seine Sonaten Essercizi per gravicembalo (wörtlich "Studien für Cembalo") nannte, sind sie so viel mehr als Fingerübungen. Jede einzelne von ihnen ist ein barockes Juwel, voll funkelnder Melodien und spanischem Swing. Ihre Virtuosität täuscht kaum über eine warme Melancholie hinweg. Philippe Thuriot improvisiert diese bezaubernden Sonaten und haucht ihnen mit seinem Akkordeon neues Leben ein.

Artist(s)

Philippe Thuriot (accordion)

Philippe Thuriot has spent his entire musical career moving between different worlds. His earliest musical influences sprang from the jukebox and the bal-musette dances at Le Café du Village, the pub run by his parents. Although he studied “noble” instruments such as violin and clarinet, in the end it was his first instrument, the accordion, that remained on his lap. It soon became clear that his appetite for broadening and deepening his musical horizons could not be satisfied. During his studies with the renowned Mogens Ellegaard at the Royal Conservatory of Copenhagen, his musical language and imagination flourished through the discovery of the contemporary repertoire for accordion. His first world tour, in 1996 with Alain Platel's La Tristeza Complice, introduced him to a...
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Philippe Thuriot has spent his entire musical career moving between different worlds.

His earliest musical influences sprang from the jukebox and the bal-musette dances at Le Café du Village, the pub run by his parents. Although he studied “noble” instruments such as violin and clarinet, in the end it was his first instrument, the accordion, that remained on his lap.

It soon became clear that his appetite for broadening and deepening his musical horizons could not be satisfied. During his studies with the renowned Mogens Ellegaard at the Royal Conservatory of Copenhagen, his musical language and imagination flourished through the discovery of the contemporary repertoire for accordion.

His first world tour, in 1996 with Alain Platel's La Tristeza Complice, introduced him to a new artistic experience.

In the meantime, he also discovered the wondrous universe of improvisation. This led to collaborations with masters such as Uri Caine, Ellery Eskelin, René Lucier, Mark Feldman, Louis Sclavis and Maria Schneider.

Solo recitals alternated with collaborations with bands and ensembles.

Many composers have worked with him. Among other things, he premiered Dirk D’Ase's accordion concerto at the Wiener Konzert-Verein. He has performed with Prometheus Ictus, Oxalys, the WDR Big Band, Het Collectief, Symfonieorkest Vlaanderen and the Brussels Jazz Orchestra. Peter Vermeersch and Dick Van der Harst have also written accordion concertos for Philippe.

During the long, empty hours in hotel rooms while touring Pitié with Les ballets C de la B, Thuriot immersed himself in J. S. Bach's Goldberg Variations.

This led to an album supported by Warner Classics and Klara. It did not escape the attention of Philippe Herreweghe, who invited him several times to his Tuscan festival, Crete Senesi.

He was also invited to this prestigious festival with his solo album Couperin and Ravel (Warner).

Recent projects include I Silenti, featuring music by Claudio Monteverdi, with Fabrizio Cassol, Tcha Limberger and Claron McFadden, directed by Lisaboa Houbrechts.

In 2023–24, he toured with Vakepoes (La Geste, Toneelhuis, Opera Ballet Vlaanderen), an acclaimed music-theatre production by Lisaboa Houbrechts, featuring, among others, Stefaan Degand and Elsie de Brauw.

A new music-theatre project, Amours Aveugles by Koen Augustijnen, took shape and toured in 2024–25. This powerful work combining theatre and dance features musical adaptations by Gwen Cresens and Philippe Thuriot, with, among others, Ed Lyon (tenor), Liesbeth Devos (soprano), Gwen Cresens (accordion), Rosalba Torres (dance) and Elie Tass (dance).

In 2024, he recorded a new solo CD featuring music by D. Scarlatti for the label Challenge Records.

In 2025, he released Illuminations on the same label, featuring improvisations based on the music of J. S. Bach.

In his latest collaboration with the Brussels Jazz Orchestra, Philippe is the soloist in Looking Within, for which Bert Joris composed the music.


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Composer(s)

Domenico Scarlatti

Giuseppe Domenico Scarlatti was an Italian composer who spent much of his life in the service of the Portuguese and Spanish royal families. He is classified primarily as a Baroque composer chronologically, although his music was influential in the development of the Classical style and he was one of the few Baroque composers to transition into the Classical period. Like his renowned father Alessandro Scarlatti, he composed in a variety of musical forms, although today he is known mainly for his 555 keyboard sonatas.
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Giuseppe Domenico Scarlatti was an Italian composer who spent much of his life in the service of the Portuguese and Spanish royal families. He is classified primarily as a Baroque composer chronologically, although his music was influential in the development of the Classical style and he was one of the few Baroque composers to transition into the Classical period. Like his renowned father Alessandro Scarlatti, he composed in a variety of musical forms, although today he is known mainly for his 555 keyboard sonatas.

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Press

Thuriot does not always play the notes directly from the score, but his improvisations sound stylistically appropriate, and it is easy to imagine that the composer himself would have approved.
Fanfare Magazine, 01-5-2025

The whole performance is entertaining and whimsical, like a musician amusing his friends with informal reminiscences of pieces that the audience already likes. I enjoy hearing Thuriot’s probing creativity and his relaxed casualness of delivery.
American Record Guide, 01-1-2025

Recommended, and not just for the curious or the accordion aficionado.
Fanfare Magazine, 01-1-2025

 The "intro" phases are always convincing...
Classic Voice, 01-12-2024

everything fits: it's a triumph of technique and musical imagination
BBC Radio 3, 08-6-2024

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