The three sonatas recorded here span the whole of the career of Silvius Leopold Weiss, a prodigious composer of almost 600 works for solo lute and by far the most outstanding lutenist of the Baroque era. At times deeply felt, at others infectiously lively, the Sonatas are among the most technically challenging music in the lute’s repertory. The magnificent Sonata No. 45, suffused with the spirit and style of contemporary Italian composers such as the Scarlattis and Corelli, is both one of Weiss’s crowning achievements as a composer and among the greatest works for the instrument from any period.