The concertos featured on this recording can be characterized as Baroque music verging on the galant. Giuseppe Sammartini bestowed us with an impressive number of compositions (his trio sonatas are worthy of particular mention, true trios independent of the basso continuo) marked by a sure compositional technique and a lightness of style.

The «red priest» [il prete rosso], Antonio Vivaldi, experienced how fleeting fame could be during his lifetime, but his name is now immortal. It certainly lives on in the three vivacious concertos here.

William Babell, the least well-known of the composers on this recording, was a pupil of Pepusch and Handel. Contemporary sources report that he was said to have surpassed even Handel as an organist. Babell’s concertos for recorder and violins are particularly interesting; they bear the clear mark of the Italian masters.

The members of the Baroque Soloists of Amsterdam first met during their studies of early music in Holland. The musicians are all members of eminent ensembles, such as the Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra, the Stravaganza, and the English Consort.

They are joined on this recording by soloist Thierry Perrenoud in a program of recorder music, an instrument which has enjoyed a veritable rebirth during the past twenty years.