Abel: 6 Sonatas for Viola da Gamba & Bass

This new recording presents The Six Sonatas for viola da gamba and B.C., written to attract enthusiastic amateurs of relatively modest ability: pleasing and attractive music, indulging in charming cantabile melodies.

Composer: Carl Friedrich Abel
Artists: Marco Casonato (viola da gamba), Massimo Marchese (theorbo)

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Carl Friedrich Abel capitalised on a musical pedigree with strong links to the Bach family. Abel’s father, Christian Friedrich, had been the chamber cello and viol player in Cöthen where J.S. Bach was appointed Capellmeister, and the two developed a close professional and personal relationship. When Abel Sr died in 1737, Carl Friedrich was sent to live with the Bach family, who had by then moved to Leipzig. There, he had direct access to the grand master of invention and composition, and from him he learned the skills he would use to dazzle audiences in a career of improvised performances on the viola da gamba and harpsichord.

From 1763 Abel shared a house in London with Johann Christian Bach (whom he had known in Leipzig as a young man) and together they ran the Wednesday Evening Concerts at Carlisle House in Soho Square, the forerunner to the more celebrated Bach–Abel Concerts in Hanover Square. Abel’s Six Sonatas (WK 141–146) and the four solos recorded here date from the 1770s, when this pioneering concert subscription series was at its peak.

Relatively straightforward pieces, the Sonatas were written to attract enthusiastic amateurs of relatively modest ability on the instrument. While his aim may have been to entertain, Abel invested all his considerable melodic talents into these compositions. Taking inspiration from reports of Abel improvising and decorating in performance, the artists have elected to repeat the slow movements in ornamented versions. The continuo element of the sonatas is also open to interpretation; the artists’ choice of theorbo was prompted by the historical idea that the instrument was still in fashion in late-18th-century London, even if unusual, and that aesthetically it is particularly suited to the intimate dimension of this music.

Tracklist:
Sonata No. 1 in C Major, WKO 141:
00:00:00 I. Vivace
00:04:13 II. Adagio
00:08:08 III. Minuetto

Sonata No. 2 in A Major, WKO 142:
00:10:00 I. Allegro
00:13:49 II. Siciliano
00:15:50 III. Minuetto

00:17:31 Vivace in D Major, WKO 190
00:20:07 Piece in D Major, WKO 193 – Minuet for Viola da Gamba

Sonata No. 3 in D Major, WKO 143:
00:21:15 I. Allegro
00:24:21 II. Adagio
00:27:41 III. Minuetto

Sonata No. 4 in G Major, WKO 144:
00:29:36 I. Allegro
00:33:02 II. Adagio
00:36:47 III. Minuetto

00:38:20 Piece in D Minor, WKO 206 - [Minuet] for Viola da Gamba

Sonata No. 5 in A Major, WKO 145:
00:41:10 I. Allegro
00:44:38 II. Andante
00:47:11 III. Minuetto

Sonata No. 6 in E Minor, WKO 146:
00:48:49 I. Moderato
00:53:24 II. Adagio
00:55:41 III. Minuetto

00:57:47 Untitled Piece (Pembroke Manuscript) [in diesen heilig’n Hallen] for Viola da Gamba

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