Once upon a time, a full-price classical LPs cost almost £40 at today’s prices. No wonder cheaper labels flourished. And I remember some of those cheaper LPs with great fondness, including a Saga recording of pieces by Giovanni Battista Sammartini (c. 1700 – 15 January 1775). The first piece on the record was this short Symphony in A, played here — with engaging zest — by Concerto Köln.
Sammartini was prolific: if you want to hear another piece by him, this time in the performance on that Saga LP, then try this delightful Symphony In G For Trumpet And Strings. Or if you have time for the whole eighty odd minutes of the excellent concert by Concerto Köln, with pieces by Bach, Vivaldi, Locatelli and Dall’Abaco, then the complete video is here.
And since you asked, the cover of the LP is a self-portrait by Filippino Lippi, so only about three hundred years out of time with the music.