Now here is an Abel musician, published by an excellent lAbel (we could go on), CPO, finally giving his symphonies the treatment they deserve. In his day, Abel (1723-1787) was a great star: after studying under Bach himself, he moved to London with one of the Cantor's sons, where he took up a career as a musician playing the viol da gamba, the harpsichord, and the horn, with sidelines in composing and boozing. The famous Bach-Abel concerts which dazzled London have been well-known for years. These Symphonies Op. 1 and Op. 4 were published in 1760 and 1762 respectively, and played frequently across all of Europe for a long time thereafter.
The young Mozart himself copied (yet) another of Abel's symphonies, which for a long time was taken to be the work of little Wolfgang himself, a clear indicator of the great quality of writing and conception. But unfortunately for Abel, his style of writing remained stuck in his half of the 18th century, even if it was clearly possible to also see the parallels with Haydn's works from the same period. But Abel passed away a little too soon (over-intensive boozing) to change his tune: and so here we have a dozen symphonies (also called "Overtures", but they are arranged in three movements), which straddle the divide between the last of a gallant baroque and the start of a more mannered classicism. The excellent Kölner Akademie, an ensemble which has made a point of not specialising exclusively in any one area, playing works from the 17th century all the way through to the 21st century, gives a performance with a marvellous freshness. © SM/Qobuz