This CD invites you into the private world where Domenico Scarlatti’s genius truly flourished: the intimate chambers of Princess María Bárbara. Born in Naples in 1685 and seasoned in Venice and Rome—where he famously tied with Händel in a legendary keyboard duel—Scarlatti found his most fertile ground not in public theatres or cathedrals, but in the quiet courtly salons of Lisbon and Madrid. There, he crafted hundreds of sonatas whose dazzling technique and inventive wit were designed for close listeners and agile hands: repetitions that shimmer like minimalism avant la lettre, audacious hand-crossings, wide leaps, and cascades of repeated notes. First crystallized in the Essercizi of 1738, these works blend Italian craftsmanship with Iberian color, proving equally captivating on harpsichord and modern piano, where their tenderness and sparkle speak with fresh immediacy. The program traces Scarlatti’s kaleidoscope of moods and sound worlds: guitar-like arpeggios, castanet-like reiterations, piquant dissonances, theatrical fanfares, bustling street scenes, and moments of contemplative counterpoint. Alongside the brilliance lie slow, cantabile sonatas of floating melody and poignant nostalgia, where sighing chromatic figures linger like memory. Technical daring is always at the service of expression, turning virtuosity into poetry and private entertainment into art of the highest refinement. In the spirit of Scarlatti’s own prologue—“an ingenious jesting with art”—this album invites you to listen more human than critical, and to take to heart the composer’s enduring farewell: vivi felice.