Video of the week: Angela Hewitt plays Scarlatti’s exquisite Sonata in A major, Kk 208

Angela Hewitt performs one of Domenico Scarlatti’s most intimate slow sonatas, ahead of the release of the third volume in her acclaimed exploration of the composer’s keyboard works.

This week’s video features Angela Hewitt performing Domenico Scarlatti’s Sonata in A major, Kk 208, a remarkably lyrical work that reveals a very different side of a composer often associated with dazzling virtuosity and rhythmic exuberance.

Marked Adagio e cantabile, Kk 208 unfolds with an almost vocal quality, its long melodic line supported by gently shifting harmonies and delicate ornamentation. There are no stamping rhythms or flashes of keyboard brilliance here: instead, Scarlatti creates an atmosphere of intimacy and contemplation.

The sonata has long held a special place among Scarlatti’s more than 550 keyboard works. In her notes for the recording, Hewitt recalls that the first harpsichordist to perform all of Scarlatti’s sonatas declared Kk 208 the one he would choose if allowed to keep only one.

The performance anticipates Hewitt’s forthcoming album Scarlatti: Sonatas, Vol. 3, to be released by Hyperion on 6 November 2026. Ten years after her first Scarlatti recording, Hewitt has selected 16 sonatas for the new volume, ranging from works infused with the Spanish rhythms so characteristic of the composer to the quiet expressiveness of Kk 208.

Kk 208 opens the second side of the LP and is followed by another Sonata in A major, Kk 209 — a pairing that places the introspective character of the first against Scarlatti’s more animated keyboard writing.

Link to the album: Scarlatti: Sonatas, Vol. 3 – Angela Hewitt

Watch Angela Hewitt perform Scarlatti’s Sonata in A major, Kk 208 below.