Stagione Frankfurt/Schneider - Abel: 6 Symphonies, Op. 7

What makes Abel�s symphonies so unique among those of his contemporaries is not their first movements in what was later known as the �sonata form� or their last movements, which without exception are formed, usually in rondo structure, by dances of folk character like fast contredanses and minuets, but rather their slow middle movements, mostly with the heading �Andante� and frequently �sempre piano� in dynamics, which speak a new and thoroughly individual musical language.