Utwory na płycie:

• Abel: Adagio, WKO 189
• Abel: Vivace, WKO 190
• Abel: Allegro, WKO 192
• Abel: Tempo minuetto, WKO 154
• Abel: Adagio, WKO 209
• Abel: Arpeggio, WKO 205
• Abel: Tempo di menuet con variazioni, WKO 203, WKO 204
• Abel: Moderato, WKO 208
• Abel: Adagio, WKO 187
• Abel: Fuga, WKO 196
• Abel: Sonata in G - 1. Adagio, WKO 155/1
• Abel: Sonata in G - 2. Allegro, WKO 155/2
• Abel: Sonata in G - 3. Tempo di menuet, WKO 153
• Abel: Sonata in G - 4. Adagio
• Abel: Allegro, WKO 198
• Abel: Tempo di menuet, WKO 202
• Abel: Andante, WKO 191
• Abel: Arpeggio, WKO 194
• Abel: Allegro, WKO 207
• Abel: Tempo di menuet, WKO 188
• Abel: Andante, WKO 199
• Abel: Allegro, WKO 195
• Abel: Allegretto, WKO 211
• Abel: Allegro, WKO 212

Mr Abel’s Fine Airs - Music for solo viola da gamba

Carl Friedrich Abel (1723–1787) was a contemporary of J C Bach, and a fashionable performer and promoter in London in the eighteenth century. By that time the viola da gamba was a rarity, but Abel’s performances sparked a revival of interest among performers and audiences. The works recorded on this disc (six of which have never been previously recorded) can be seen as musical expositions of sensibility, inhabiting the same tragic world as the gamba solos in J S Bach’s Passions. Abel’s contemporary Charles Burney commented on the musician’s ability to ‘breathe’ the notes as he played them, and this extraordinary sensitivity is present too in the beautiful playing of Susanne Heinrich.

GRAMOPHONE AWARD WINNER; GRAMOPHONE EDITOR'S CHOICE; DIAPASON D'OR

'Until the release of this new recording the fascinating world of Abel's gamba music has been pretty much a closed book … Abel inclined towards simplicity and elegance, and Heinrich is always at pains to bring out the singing quality of the melodic lines … From the outset Heinrich confidently masters the multiple stopping and the wide range of the music … Throughout, Heinrich succeeds triumphantly in crafting each piece individually - creating a special atmosphere for each work' (International Record Review)

'This delightful release … Abel was one of the last masters of the viola da gamba, and in these unaccompanied pieces he reveals an intimate art … Heinrich brings to them exactly the right blend of emotional involvement and earnest good taste, and finds pleasing resonance and smoothness in her instrument, such that even nearly 80 minutes of solo gamba never tires the ear. An unexpected and atmospheric gem - I can almost hear the firewood crackling' (Gramophone)

'Abel’s pieces are reminiscent of J S Bach’s solo cello suites, so if you like them then you’ll like these. They are far more than just dance suites though, both in terms of the frequently florid, technically demanding style (listen to the extraordinary multiple stops in the fugue), and in terms of their emotional range. Sensibility, or the practise of articulating direct and strong emotions, was all the rage in the arts world at the time, and Susanne Heinrich beautifully draws this out of Abel’s writing. Charles Burney wrote at the time that Abel’s viola da gamba seemed to breathe the notes, and I think he’d be similarly complementary of Heinrich’s playing, were he alive and critiquing today' (BBC Online)

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Recording details: October 2006; St Andrew's Church, Toddington, Gloucestershire, United Kingdom; Produced by Adrian Hunter; Engineered by Adrian Hunter; Release date: October 2007;