JOHANN STAMITZ (1717-1757): 6 Violin Sonatas, Op. 6.

Description: Dating from 1759, these are three movement sonatas in an adagio-allegro-menuetto format which was also used a bit by Haydn in his string trios and by Mozart in early violin and piano sonatas. It marks a stage between the baroque Sonata da chiesa (the Adagio although Stamitz varies their mood and character remarkably) and Classical sonata with the minuets having, again, a variation of character that's almost Haydneque in ingenuity. Stephan Schardt (violin), Michael Behringer (harpsichord).