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This is yet another great disc from Paolo Pandolfo. He is already established as a superstar of the viola da gamba and this just helps to cement that reputation. It is a disc of solo pieces by Carl Friedrich Abel, a pupil of Bach and known as the last of the great gamba masters before the cello took its place. The pieces are inventive and involving, and are really enjoyable music from lively dance-like movements to lovely arpeggiated studies and thoughtful, intense adagios. I am glad that Abel is getting a bit more attention nowadays - he deserves it.

Pandolfo makes the most of the free, improvisatory feel of many of the pieces with his virtuosic playing and real involvement in the music. He produces a wonderful range of tone from his instrument - feather-light in places and with the gamba's full, thrilling weight in others - so there is endless variety and freshness in the music, fully brought out by the excellent recording quality.

It is interesting to compare this with Susanne Heinrich's disc of many of the same pieces (which I have also loved since the day I first heard it). Abel: Mr Abel's Fine Airs - Sonatas for viola da gamba /Heinrich Heinrich's approach is more measured and respectful of the original rhythmic structures, Pandolfo's more mercurial and individual. I love both and wouldn't know which to recommend if you only buy one - it depends on your personal preference. You can't go wrong with either, in my view and I recommend this disc very highly.