Leonardo Leo’s seven sonatas for recorder and basso continuo, until today unpublished on CD, shed new light on the recorder repertory in the Neapolitan area and are valuable testimony to a significant interest in this instrument shown by the composer.

Ensemble Barocco di Napoli vary the sonority of the basso continuo as much as possible, seeking the greatest possible number of solutions for combining the accompanying instruments, including in a single sonata, a bass recorder.

The eclecticism of Leo and the Neapolitan ‘maestri’ which circulates through the manuscripts still preserved in the archives of the ancient ‘conservatori’ is a valuable key to interpretation of Neapolitan musical reality of the 18th century and undoubtedly a further reason to bring to light the extremely interesting musical production of the period.

World premiere recording.