As many know, Domenico Scarlatti, son of opera composer Alessandro Scarlatti, was a Neapolitan by birth, but spent most of his adult years in Portugal and Spain. Perhaps because of the mixture of cultural influences on him, his music exhibited colorful effects and imaginative developmental ideas not found in the works of most other composers of his day. Furthermore, Scarlatti was a compositional maverick by nature, inventing his own unique sonata forms. It is not form that sets this Sonata in D major apart from most others, however, but its colorful trills and strumming effects. Is that an imitation of a mandolin heard in parts of this work? Marked Allegro, this sonata busily opens with a repeated rhythmic figure that divulges the aforementioned strumming effect in an almost flamenco style. The main theme has a Spanish flavor in its bright rhythmic playfulness, though the periodic slackening in tempo and little hesitations surrounding it are clearly Scarlatti's own quirky creations. In the middle section, the music takes on a somewhat more serious manner, but overall remains sunny and quite lively. The concluding pages feature much the same rhythmic joy and imaginative colors from the opening. This sonata typically lasts four minutes.

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