Justin Taylor seems to have become the new "luminary" of the harpsichord world in very short order, and garnering multiple prizes and awards in the process. His previous debut recording devoted to the music of the Forqueray family, was very well received by all critics for both interpretation and sound quality. I don't believe the Alpha label has ever released a recording that didn't sound great. For his second Alpha project, Justin Taylor attempts to present a common link between Domenico Scarlatti (1685-1757) and György Ligeti (1923-2006) based on their individual need to push the instrument to its limits: Scarlatti through musical virtuosity and Ligeti through sound production.

The disc presents 12 Sonatas by Scarlatti and 3 pieces by Ligeti. The opening Sonata in D minor, K.141 clearly indicates that Scarlatti was determined to outclass and outplay his contemporaries by making full use of the instrument's keyboard range and tonal possibilities, along with brilliant technique and animated dispatch. And some of his sonatas exhibit harmonic innovation and advanced counterpoint. Justin Taylor does them all full justice along with deeply intuitive musical sensibilities.

Continuum, the title track of this CD, is one of Ligeti's most famous works. It generates sounds that you would consider impossible, especially on a harpsichord. The sonic resonance of a harpsichord decays very quickly, but by mashing together extremely fast note sequences, Ligeti creates the effect of perpetual motion. It's like watching spinning fan blades as they accelerate. After a while you can't distinguish individual blades anymore, and by the simple addition of one more note to the sequence, the sound is like the perception that the spinning blades are turning backwards, because we can't keep up with the speed. It's like watching, or in this case hearing, the science of sound in motion. Justin Taylor plays this so fast, that as intended, at one point the whole thing becomes a blur just like ever increasing frame rates of moving pictures. Quite fascinating.

The Ruckers-Hemsch harpsichord is a pleasure to listen to with sweet, non-metallic top-end notes and richly buzzy low-end notes. If you enjoy Baroque keyboard music and are also interested in a bit of sonic science, you will want to play this recording perpetually (pun intended).