Giovanni Miszczyszyn, Giacomo Benedetti & Valeria Brunelli - Sarti: 6 Sonatas for Traversiere Flute & B.C. (2025) [24/96]

As is the case with so many 18th-century composers, Giuseppe Sarti (1727–1802) enjoyed fame in his lifetime to rival W.A. Mozart’s but is scarcely known today. Some might remember him as the author of the aria “Come un agnello”, borrowed by Mozart in Don Giovanni. After all, Sarti’s arias were in his lifetime regarded as true models of Italian style. Even after his death, they were regularly performed in the salons of the nobility. But by about 1840 the memory of the man and his works had largely faded. In recent decades, however, there has been a renewed focus on Sarti; not only for his compositions, but also for his merits as a pedagogue and theorist.

The 6 Sonate a Flauto Traversiero solo e Basso Continuo were published in Paris by Christophe Le Menu. The date of publication, 1772, can be deduced from an advertisement that appeared in a periodical late that year. It is a collection of sonatas definitely conceived for an audience at a more professional than amateur level, with writing decidedly suited to the instrumental peculiarities of the transverse flute, which, according to the taste of the time, took as its model the singing qualities of the human voice.

This allowed Sarti to take advantage of his skill at composing operas in order to write particularly touching, even dramatic melodies, with typically theatrical affects such as in the Largo and Cantabile of the First Sonata or the Andante of the Fourth Sonata, both in the key of G minor, which on the transverse flute is, with its veiled timbre, delicately affectionate. In the context of what is one of the main characteristics of flute (and violin) writing by Italian composers, Sarti employs an articulation dominated by legato, clearly diversifying himself, as did the French composers, from the predominantly articulated style that prevailed with German composers.

The remarkably flautistic writing, for a composer who did not play the instrument nor wrote much instrumental music in general, suggests he may have been in contact with a flute virtuoso who either advised or inspired him. A credible hypothesis is that a collaboration with the orchestra of the Grand Duchy of Florence led him to work closely with its principal flautist, the virtuoso Niccolò Dôthel.

Tracklist:
01. Sonata No. 1 in G Major: I. Allegretto
02. Sonata No. 1 in G Major: II. Largo e Cantabile
03. Sonata No. 1 in G Major: III. Allegro
04. Sonata No. 2 in C Major: I. Andante
05. Sonata No. 2 in C Major: II. Allegro
06. Sonata No. 2 in C Major: III. Minuetto
07. Sonata No. 3 in G Major: I. Cantabile
08. Sonata No. 3 in G Major: II. Allegro
09. Sonata No. 3 in G Major: III. Rondò
10. Sonata No. 4 in G Minor: I. Andante
11. Sonata No. 4 in G Minor: II. Grave
12. Sonata No. 4 in G Minor: III. Giga
13. Sonata No. 5 in F Major: I. Andantino
14. Sonata No. 5 in F Major: II. Presto
15. Sonata No. 6 in D Major: I. Andante non Molto
16. Sonata No. 6 in D Major: II. Allegro


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