Carl Friedrich Abel (1723-1787)
The Late Symphonies
Symphony in C (WKO 37)
Symphony in B-flat (WKO 38)
Sinfonia concertante in D (WKO 43)
Symphony in E-flat (WKO 39)
Symphony in D (WKO 41)
Susanne Regel (oboe), Katie Stephens (cello)
Main-Barockorchester/Martin Jopp (violin)
rec. 2022, Unionskirche, Idstein, Germany
Reviewed as a stereo 16/44 download
Accent ACC24394 [78]
The name of Carl Friedrich Abel is almost exclusively associated with the viola da gamba. He was a virtuoso on that instrument in a time, that it was in decline in most European countries. In England, where he settled in 1758/59, he was probably the only professional player of the viol. He often gave concerts on his instrument, mostly in domestic surroundings, and had several pupils from the aristocracy.
However, there is much more to Abel than the viola da gamba. Music for his own instrument, often without accompaniment, constitutes a substantial part of his oeuvre, but he also composed music for other instruments as well as for orchestra. Among the chamber music are sonatas for different combinations of instruments, often with an obbligato keyboard part, as well as trios and quartets. For larger scorings he wrote symphonies and solo concertos. The work-list in New Grove includes six sets of symphonies or overtures. These terms are interchangeable; the symphonies op. 1 and op. 4, for instance, were published as ‘overtures’ in London and as ‘symphonies’ on the continent. This can be explained from the fact that the symphony had its roots in the Italian opera overture. Like the latter the early symphonies have three movements, of which the last is the shortest and has the form of a dance. Abel’s symphonies were indeed used as opera overtures, but he himself was in no way involved in opera. Except one aria with an obbligato part for viola da gamba he did not compose anything for the stage.
In the application of the sonata form in the opening movements Abel’s symphonies are modern, but with regard to instrumentation they are rather conservative. The symphonies are scored for pairs of oboes and horns, with strings and bass. But the winds don’t play an independent part; they add colour to the strings which are the heart of the orchestra, and are used to emphasize rhythms. The influence of the Mannheim school is obvious in the use of crescendi.
“The slow movements usually have elegant, lyrical, highly ornamented melodies of considerable breadth”, according to New Grove, referring to his compositions in general. It is also mentioned that Abel was famous “for his refinement of taste and his depth of feeling in adagios”. In the symphonies Abel did not include adagios; all four middle movements on this disc are marked andante. That does not mean that they are devoid of expression. It is here that Abel sometimes turns to minor, whereas all the symphonies are in major. That is the case in the Symphony in E flat, whose middle movement is in C minor, and scored for strings without winds. There are minor episodes in other movements as well. In the closing presto of the Symphony in C Abel includes a passage in minor for two oboes.
Bernd Heyder, in his liner-notes, links the opening allegro of the Symphony in D with Haydn. “With an energetic string unisono on a C, he abruptly lifts the second half of the opening movement into a modulation-rich development section that begins in B minor – a decade or so later, Joseph Haydn would delight London audiences with
such effects in his symphonies.” This work is certainly one of the highlights of this disc, also thanks to the middle movement, where the strings are coloured by two flutes, playing colla parte with the violins.
The four symphonies recorded by the Main-Barockorchester may have been played at first during the Bach-Abel concerts around 1780. From 1782 to 1785 Abel was in Germany, and it is documented that these symphonies were played in Berlin in front of Friedrich Wilhelm, who had learned to play the viola da gamba and later turned to the cello. Copies of the violin and bass parts of the London performing material are now in the Berlin State Library.
The remaining work is the Sinfonia concertante in D. This was a highly popular genre, which flourished between around 1770 and around 1830, but especially in the last two decades of the 18th century. Paris was one of the centres of the sinfonia concertante; from there the genre disseminated across Europe. Whereas in France the sinfonia concertante in two movements was preferred, elsewhere composers wrote such pieces in three movements. That is also the case with Abel’s sinfonia concertante with solo parts for oboe, violin and cello. There is evidence of a performance in London in February 1785. The oboe part was played by Johann Christian Fischer, the famous German oboist who had been in the service of the Dresden court and later of Frederick the Great. The violinist was Wilhelm Cramer, one of the great virtuosos of his time, who came from Mannheim and had played at the Concert Spirituel in Paris. The cello part was played by James Cervetto, whom Charles Burney called “matchless”. He was considered one of the greatest English cellists at the time. A performance by such virtuosos attests to the status of Abel as a composer of orchestral music.
This disc is an important addition to the discography, as few music by Abel other than his viola da gamba works are performed on the concert platform and are documented on disc. Some recordings of earlier symphonies are available, but given that he wrote 50 such pieces, there is still some catching up to do. This disc is musically convincing: these are five beautiful pieces which are given fine performances. Especially the middle movements come off very well. In the fast movements I sometimes wished stronger dynamic accents, but that may also be a matter of taste. Anyway, this production deserves the interest of anyone who likes music of the classical period and also contributes to our knowledge of the English music scene in the early classical period.
Johan van Veen
www.musica-dei-donum.org
twitter.com/johanvanveen
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