“…feeling, taste and science…” The viola da gamba music of Carl Friedrich Abel – Richard Boothby

“…Feeling, Taste & Science…”: The Viola da Gamba Music of Carl Friedrich Abel presents Richard Boothby and Fretwork exploring the work of Carl Friedrich Abel, the German-born composer and viola da gamba player who became a central figure in London’s musical life from 1759 until his death in 1787. The programme draws on solo works from the Drexel Manuscript, three sonatas with harpsichord, and a fugue believed to have been composed for Abel’s close friend Thomas Gainsborough. Countertenor Iestyn Davies joins for Abel’s only known aria. Two of the three sonatas included are recorded here for the first time, having been discovered in a castle in Poland.