To inaugurate its Complete Keyboard Sonatas by Baroque composer Domenico Scarlatti, Naxos chose Tbilisi-native Eteri Andjaparidze. Russian pianists were among the first artists to champion the cause of Scarlatti sonatas performed on piano. Andjaparidze continues in the tradition of Horowitz, Pletnev, and Gilels who are among the better known Russians who favor Scarlatti for performance. Andjaparidze continues this honor to the Italian composer with a precise and respectful recital of a collection of sonatas concentrating on the latter third of the corpus.
In common with Horowitz, as that Russian serves well as a comparison, Andjaparidze covers Sonatas in F minor, K. 184 and E major, K. 531. In Andjaparidze shares Horowitz’s vibrancy without his eccentricities. Her playing is fluid and carefully measured. On the E Major sonata, Andjaparidze affects a softer touch in the left hand than Horowitz (an understatement, to be sure).
Where Horowitz is metronomic, tossing grenades in the lower register, Andjaparidze dances even handedly across Scarlatti’s pastoral landscape. • C. Michael Bailey, All About Jazz, November 2008