Barbara Abel Titolo Mother's Instinct

The composer Barbara Strozzi’s “Ariette a voce sola opus 6” was published in 1657, and in it she explores the subject of pastoral love. This recording of the work features the extraordinary and beautiful countertenor voice of the young Japanese soloist Miroku Tadashi. The harpsichord is played by Silvia Rambaldi. Barbara Strozzi was the daughter of the Venetian poet Giulio Strozzi, and one of the most talented composers of the 17th century. Initially famed for her fantastic soprano voice, she developed into an accomplished composer, publishing eight collections of vocal works mainly based on verses by her father.

The composer Barbara Strozzi’s “Ariette a voce sola opus 6” was published in 1657, and in it she explores the subject of pastoral love. This recording of the work features the extraordinary and beautiful countertenor voice of the young Japanese soloist Miroku Tadashi. The harpsichord is played by Silvia Rambaldi.
Barbara Strozzi was the daughter of the Venetian poet Giulio Strozzi, and one of the most talented composers of the 17th century. Initially famed for her fantastic soprano voice, she developed into an accomplished composer, publishing eight collections of vocal works mainly based on verses by her father.

Carl Friedrich Abel (1723-1787) was born in Köthen, a small German city, where his father, played viola da gamba and cello in the court orchestra. In 1723 Abel senior became director of the orchestra, when the previous director, Johann Sebastian Bach, moved to Leipzig. That the young Abel later attended the Leipzig Thomasschule and was taught there by Bach is not finally confirmed. What is known, however, is that he joined Johann Adolph Hasse's court orchestra in Dresden on Bach's recommendation in 1748, where he remained for nine years. On Bach's recommendation in 1748 he was able to join Johann Adolph Hasse's court orchestra at Dresden, where he remained for fifteen years.

In 1764 a couple of German musicians lodged together in London. They shared a sort of common background, for one was the youngest son of Johann Sebastian Bach, newly arrived in town to write opera, and the other, Carl Friedrich Abel, had been Bach’s student back in Leipzig more than a decade earlier. He was in town to make his living as a composer of instrumental works and as a performer on that now-anachronistic instrument the viola da gamba. The two apparently hit it off quite well, for they soon conspired to develop the famed Bach-Abel concert series that became a fixture in the city for more than a decade and a half. Given that they also contrived to perform as well, it is not surprising that both men created a wide variety of works for their instruments, Bach on the keyboard and Abel on his gamba.

Although Carl Friedrich Abel (1723–87) is known as one of the last and greatest virtuosos of the viola da gamba, his instrument declined in popularity towards the end of the 18th century, leading him to compose for other instruments; some of his most successful results can be heard in the music recorded on this disc. Abel’s ability to compose particularly fine music for the flute can be traced back his time working at the Dresden court, which possessed one of the greatest orchestras of the era.

The recently rediscovered, so-called Pembroke collection owned by the Abel-pupil Lady Elizabeth Herbert, Countess of Pembroke and Montgomery (1737-1831), contains 14 previously unknown viol works (ten sonatas and four duos for viola da gamba and cello) by Carl Friedrich Abel (1723-87), which he composed for himself and his talented pupil. Specifically, these expressive pieces are late works that show Abel’s special way of playing. For Coviello, viola da gambist Thomas Fritzsch presents the world premiere recording of these musical jewels.

Genre-busting South African cellist brings unique sounds with improvisation, singing, body percussion and charm.

Carl Friedrich Abel is one of a number of highly interesting musicians from the second half of the eighteenth century. Their works were unfortunately soon eclipsed by the fame of Viennese classics, but the German specialist label cpo has been doing a marvelous job of making some of them available again in excellent productions on period instruments. Abel was the son of a member of Johann Sebastian Bach's orchestra at Köthen; as a young man he became viola da gamba player and cellist at Dresden under Hasse; and in the turbulences of the Seven Years War he fled via France to London, where he soon teamed up with Bach's youngest son Johann Christian to organise a series of concerts which became known all over Europe. Abel played viola da gamba, cello and harpsichord at these concerts, and it appears that a good deal of music from his own compositional workshop was performed there (symphonies, flute concertos).