This is the brother of the better-known Giovanni Battista Sammartini, considered one of the fathers of the modern symphony. Giuseppe was a virtuoso of the Baroque oboe. He traveled to the court of the Prince of Wales in London and finding that recorder sonatas were popular in England, wrote a sizeable batch of them. Here are seven of the tuneful and original-sounding works which retain the Italian style.
Steger is a terrific virtuoso; one can rest assured there will never be one of those clams that can be so painful with recorder music. He is surround by a sextet of top players on harpsichord, organ, harp, cello, guitar, theorbo and bassoon, and the sonics are clean and sparkling. The first two sonatas are three-movement works, then it moves to a four-short-movement form. Delightful Baroque music concert!
– John Sunier
