Carl Friedrich Abel was considered the greatest gambist of his time in 18th century London. After his training in Leipzig with J. S. Bach, Abel later worked closely with the "London Bach", Johann Christian. His music is characterized by an imaginative swelling mood, which (in retrospect) was on the threshold between the Baroque and Classical periods.

After finally moving to London in 1759, Abel soon attracted the admiration of the greatest English portraitist of his time, Thomas Gainsborough. The artist painted the composer and played the viola da gamba himself. It is quite possible that Abel wrote this collection of quasi-improvised solo works towards the end of his life with Gainsborough in mind. In any case, the name "Drexel" only came about when the manuscript of the pieces came into the hands of the philanthropist Joseph William Drexel in 1877.

As Alejandro Marías notes in his booklet essay on this remarkable new recording, the manuscript raises more questions than it answers. "Why did he compile them, for whom, why in this order, did he ever play any of these scores, or was it an attempt to capture the inspiration that had led him to improvise the night before?"

For Marías, the collection is nevertheless "one of the most important works of viola da gamba literature. It represents the most intimate moments of the last great viola da gamba player, in which he found the formal and stylistic freedom to express his deepest feelings and put his virtuosity at the service of the music and not just offer a technical display, as difficult as some of these pieces may be." The recording is one of the greatest challenges a viola da gamba player can face

This album of the Drexel manuscript is a successful follow-up to the previous collection of Abel's music under the direction of Marías on Brilliant Classics, 'Between Two Worlds' (97437), which received great critical acclaim.