Six sonatas volume 1

SKU: HH.HH598-FSP

ISBN 9790708213130.

Eighteenth-century England was full of amateur musicians making music without fanfare at home. Some of them were also gifted composers, and among the best was Benjamin Skinner (1728–1757) from what was then the village of Bromley near Bow, today part of London’s East End. Skinner’s main publication was a set of six sonatas for flute, violin or solo harpsichord, which came out in 1752. These unpretentious pieces, then as now well suited to performance by amateurs or by musicians in training, are full of delights, mixing stylistic features inspired by Purcell or Handel with evocations of English popular vocal music and also the newer galant style introduced from Italy.  Perhaps these sonatas work best with flute and basso continuo, but the other two performance options are good alternatives.