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Carl Friedrich Abel at 300
One that got away - an anniversary from late 2023 that was eclipsed by Christmas!
Among the most acclaimed players of the viola da gamba of his time, Carl Friedrich Abel (whose three hundredth 'birthday' fell on December 22nd last year) wrote a great amount of music for his own instrument - even as it was beginning to fall out of fashion, eventually to be all but replaced by the cello.
In addition to his compositions for the viola da gamba, Abel also wrote a wealth of chamber and orchestral music - though seems never to have turned his hand to vocal, sacred or operatic composition. His musical language, like that of his contemporaries such as CPE Bach, Hasse and Quantz, frequently embodies the Empfindsamer Stil that evolved out of earlier Baroque sensibilities, and in many ways straddles the transition between Baroque and Classical.
Besides performing and composing himself, Abel was also something of a musical entrepreneur - putting on the first series of subscription concerts in England in collaboration with Johann Christian Bach, at which (among other things) numerous works by Haydn received their premieres.
Recordings of Abel's music are not especially numerous; many of his works remain unavailable on record to this day. However, those works that have been recorded show both his inventiveness and his virtuosity - a selection of these recordings is below.
Chamber Works
Despite the gamba's reputation as a Baroque (even Renaissance) instrument, Abel perhaps more than any other composer takes it in the direction of the Classical. The unaccompanied suites here are fascinating musical hybrids - their Baroque dance-suite origins are clear, but the musical style is something entirely different.
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC
A 2008 Gramophone finalist, this album from Susanne Heinrich reveals something of the instrument's sensitivity (as remarked on by Abel's contemporary, the musician, historian and diarist Charles Burney). Not for nothing did the gamba enjoy a brief resurgence in popularity during Abel's career.
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC
Abel: Sonatas from the Maltzan Collection
Krzysztof Firlus (viola da gamba), Anna Firlus (harpsichord), Tomasz Pokrzywinski (baroque cello)
Rediscovered in 2015 in the library of Poznań's Adam Mickiewicz University, the manuscripts that have come to be known as the Maltzan Collection (after the German aristocratic family that originally owned them) feature accompanied, rather than solo, sonatas for the viola da gamba, in which it sits side-by-side with the cello - the instrument that might seem like its deadliest rival!
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC
Abel: Viola da Gamba Sonatas and Trios
Thomas Fritzsch (viola da gamba), Michael Schonheit (piano), Eva Salonen (violin), Katharina Holzhey (cello)
Still unashamedly gamba-centric (perhaps calling to mind all those Haydn baryton trios!), this collection of sonatas and chamber music shows a more collaborative side to the instrument - including as the middle voice in some fascinating trio sonatas for violin, gamba and cello.
Available Format: CD
Abel: Keyboard Sonatas, Op. 2 Nos. 1-6
Miklós Spányi (tangent piano), László Paulik (violin), Balázs Máté (cello)
Firmly in the vein of the early Classical 'keyboard sonata with instrumental accompaniment', these sonatas place the keyboard at the forefront of the sound and the violin and cello in an almost obbligato-like role - an arrangement that would later be totally reversed, to the keyboard's loss, in later composers' approaches to the sonata.
Available Formats: MP3, FLAC
Plenty of limelight for the flute in these works - parallels can clearly be drawn with Quantz, who was to the flute what Abel was to the gamba during this period. The cello sonata offers some reassurance that, whatever loyalty he might have felt to his main instrument, Abel was no curmudgeonly enemy of the cello.
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC
Concertos
Abel: 4 Concertos for Flute and Orchestra WKO46-50
Karl Kaiser (flute), La Stagione, Michael Schneider
Flautist Karl Kaiser brings lightness and charm to this quartet of concertos for flute and orchestra - expertly shifting, as do the instrumentalists of La Stagione Frankfurt, between a distinctly Baroque-feeling grace in the faster movements and a limpid Classical poise in the slower.
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC
Abel: Cello Concertos and Sinfonie Concertante
Bruno Delepelaire (cello), Christoph Hartmann (oboe), Berlin Barock Solisten, Kristof Polonek
This recording pairs two sinfonie concertante with two cello concertos - all four works are wonderful rediscoveries that deserve a place in the repertoire of chamber ensembles and cellists, and the youthful Bruno Delepelaire's enthusiasm in championing them is clearly audible. It's not hard to see this recording from 2022 as having contributed to Delepelaire's being named Young Talent winner at the 2023 Opus Klassik Awards.
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC
Abel: Six Piano Concertos Op. 11
Sabine Bauer (piano & harpsichord), La Stagione Frankfurt, Michael Schneider
Keyboard works of this period offer historically-minded keyboard players a fun opportunity to hop between instruments on a recording - the fortepiano and harpsichord overlapped during Abel's time (just as did the gamba and cello), and Sabine Bauer is quite happy to play around with the sonic possibilities that this opens up - as surely Abel's contemporaries would have done - rather than making an artificial either-or choice.
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC
Orchestral Works
After appearing in a supporting role on several of the earlier recordings I've mentioned, La Stagione take centre stage in these symphonic works. Abel was one of the first to pioneer what would later become known to generations of music students as 'sonata form', though his unique approach to slow movements is if anything more noteworthy - many being marked 'piano' throughout, creating a subdued sound that was highly innovative.
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC
In Abel's time the distinction between 'symphony' and 'overture' was fairly arbitrary and different people draw the line in different places. These works from Opp. 1 and 4 described as 'symphonies in four parts' are potentially some of the earliest true symphonic compositions, despite their short duration (all under ten minutes) and their obvious debt to the widespread format of opera overtures.
Available Formats: 2 CDs, MP3, FLAC
A pot-pourri of Abel's orchestral works - some titled 'sinfonia', some 'ouverture', but all equally charming and listenable. Il Fondamento under Paul Dombrecht bring a distinctly Mozartian touch to their performances which is far from unwelcome.
Available Formats: MP3, FLAC
David Smith - Head of Digital
