Reviewed by Steven Whitehead

Today Scarlatti's reputation rests on his enormous output of keyboard music and here we have five sonatas out of the 500 or so he wrote. Francis Grier plays them on the organ of Christ Church Cathedral, Oxford, and gives a splendid performance. The pieces sound surprisingly fresh given that they date from the early 18th century. The disc opens with Scarlatti's best known vocal piece, his "Stabat Mater", composed between 1713 and 1719. Although the text is sorrowful, picturing the Mother of Jesus at the Cross, Scarlatti's operatic leanings come through: listen to that final "Amen" if you doubt me. The concluding piece is the less well known "Salve Regina" and features the treble Charles Harris, the countertenor Nicholas Clapton and Timothy Byram-Wigfield on the organ. To my mind, this saved the best to last. Organ lovers will enjoy the five sonatas but may well have them already. Those who want choral music may feel that the 35 minutes on offer here is not really enough, although this mid-price reissue does represent quite good value.

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