Mark Abel’s latest Delos album, The Cave of Wondrous Voice, breaks new ground for the composer. The recording has something of an all-star cast and documents a serious move into chamber music -- a hitherto unheard sector of Abel’s compositional palette.
The Clarinet Trio, Intuition’s Dance and The Elastic Hours – are given strong performances by long-revered virtuoso players David Shifrin, Fred Sherry and Carol Rosenberger, and by the fine German violinist Sabrina-Vivian Höpcker, up-and-coming American pianist Dominic Cheli and Southern California English hornist Sarah Beck.
While until now Abel has been known primarily for his vocal works, there is only one this time – Four Poems of Marina Tsvetaeva, the first setting in English of the great and tragic Russian poet. The 14-minute song cycle is sung by the wonderful soprano Hila Plitmann (making her fifth recorded collaboration with Abel), and the texts were translated by Tsvetaeva scholar Alyssa Dinega Gillespie.
The Cave of Wondrous Voice was recorded at Oktaven Audio in Mount Vernon, NY, by Ryan Streber, and at Capitol Recording Studios in Hollywood, CA, by James T. Hill and Chandler Harrod. The album was edited and mastered by San Francisco engineer Matt Carr. It's available from Amazon, iTunes, ArkivMusic and Delos. The interior booklet for the record can be found here.
NEW WORK RECORDED BY JONAH KIM!
Mark’s duo composition Approaching Autumn makes its debut on a new Delos album of the same name by the exciting young San Francisco-based cellist Jonah Kim. The nearly 15-minute piece is performed by Kim and acclaimed pianist Robert Koenig, chair of the Music Department at UC Santa Barbara. The album also includes two high peaks of the cello repertoire -- Zoltan Kodaly’s stunning Sonata for Solo Cello and Edvard Grieg’s Cello Sonata. The record was produced and engineered by the highly regarded Matt Carr.
Approaching Autumn has received enthusiastic praise in early reviews. Lynn Rene Bayley of The Art Music Lounge called it “a surprisingly dramatic piece … the work of an assured composer who knows what he is about. Not a single phrase or note is superfluous, repetitive, or just thrown in to impress the listener. Abel set up his themes, develops them in musically sound yet constantly surprising ways, and ends up with a work that I consider a modern American masterpiece. It should be played by many more cellists … .”
Rafael de Acha of All About the Arts described Approaching Autumn as “melodically forthcoming, harmoniously laid-out, often playful, eminently accessible, at times ruminative, unabashedly joyful at others. (It) offers a refreshing moment of solace after the demands on both player and listener of the piece that precedes it on this CD (the Kodaly sonata). Jonah Kim and Robert Koenig partner beyond perfection in this delightful work by the gifted American composer Mark Abel.”
The Clarinet Trio, Intuition’s Dance and The Elastic Hours – are given strong performances by long-revered virtuoso players David Shifrin, Fred Sherry and Carol Rosenberger, and by the fine German violinist Sabrina-Vivian Höpcker, up-and-coming American pianist Dominic Cheli and Southern California English hornist Sarah Beck.
While until now Abel has been known primarily for his vocal works, there is only one this time – Four Poems of Marina Tsvetaeva, the first setting in English of the great and tragic Russian poet. The 14-minute song cycle is sung by the wonderful soprano Hila Plitmann (making her fifth recorded collaboration with Abel), and the texts were translated by Tsvetaeva scholar Alyssa Dinega Gillespie.
The Cave of Wondrous Voice was recorded at Oktaven Audio in Mount Vernon, NY, by Ryan Streber, and at Capitol Recording Studios in Hollywood, CA, by James T. Hill and Chandler Harrod. The album was edited and mastered by San Francisco engineer Matt Carr. It's available from Amazon, iTunes, ArkivMusic and Delos. The interior booklet for the record can be found here.
NEW WORK RECORDED BY JONAH KIM!
Mark’s duo composition Approaching Autumn makes its debut on a new Delos album of the same name by the exciting young San Francisco-based cellist Jonah Kim. The nearly 15-minute piece is performed by Kim and acclaimed pianist Robert Koenig, chair of the Music Department at UC Santa Barbara. The album also includes two high peaks of the cello repertoire -- Zoltan Kodaly’s stunning Sonata for Solo Cello and Edvard Grieg’s Cello Sonata. The record was produced and engineered by the highly regarded Matt Carr.
Approaching Autumn has received enthusiastic praise in early reviews. Lynn Rene Bayley of The Art Music Lounge called it “a surprisingly dramatic piece … the work of an assured composer who knows what he is about. Not a single phrase or note is superfluous, repetitive, or just thrown in to impress the listener. Abel set up his themes, develops them in musically sound yet constantly surprising ways, and ends up with a work that I consider a modern American masterpiece. It should be played by many more cellists … .”
Rafael de Acha of All About the Arts described Approaching Autumn as “melodically forthcoming, harmoniously laid-out, often playful, eminently accessible, at times ruminative, unabashedly joyful at others. (It) offers a refreshing moment of solace after the demands on both player and listener of the piece that precedes it on this CD (the Kodaly sonata). Jonah Kim and Robert Koenig partner beyond perfection in this delightful work by the gifted American composer Mark Abel.”
RADIO INTERVIEWS AND ARTICLES
Among Mark's albums, The Cave of Wondrous Voice has received the most attention from classical radio. WWFM's David Osenberg aired a lengthy two-part interview in July 2020 that covers the entire span of Mark's output for Delos. Here are the links for each 59-minute show -- WWFM1 and WWFM2.
Around the same time, Julie Amacher of Minnesota Public Radio included a 23-minute interview in her New Classical Tracks series -- the program is here. In February 2021, Rob Kennedy of WCPE The Classical Station put together an hourlong feature on Mark's music journey with a choice selection of tracks -- it is here.
The Chicago-based online arts magazine Stay Thirsty published an extensive email interview with Mark covering a wide range of topics -- read it here.
There have also been two feature articles on the creation of the Marina Tsvetaeva cycle -- from the online magazine Russian Life and the Bowdoin College newspaper.
The eminent David Shifrin connected with Ken Field of WMBR, MIT's radio station, to discuss Cave, his first encounters with Mark and other matters pertinent to clarinetists -- WMBR
The most fun of the radio interviews is probably the one by Dacia Clay of Houston Public Media for the charming and informative podcast "Classical Classroom." In it, Mark and Dacia define art song and discuss its value, listen to some music along the way, and rehash some of Mark's musical history. Check it out here.
Two years later the irrepressible Ms. Clay, having moved over to KING-FM's Second Inversion site in Seattle, interviewed Mark again after the release of "Time and Distance." Their conversation is here.
In 2016, the opera "Home Is a Harbor" was aired in its entirety on KCBX, the NPR station for California's Central Coast. Excerpts from Mark's interview with program host Bettina Swigger can be found here.
The website of Los Angeles' venerable KCET, America's largest independent public television station, issued a long piece on Mark's work by Sarah Linn, arts writer for The Tribune of San Luis Obispo, Ca. It can be viewed here. Ms. Linn also wrote this profile at the time of release of "Terrain of the Heart."
Ryah Cooley of the New Times of San Luis Obispo wrote this look at the origins and making of "Home Is a Harbor."
Mark had wide-ranging chats about "Terrain of the Heart" with Ted Peterson of Estero Bay Community Radio in Morro Bay, Ca., and Jim Cross of WGDR, community and public radio for Central Vermont. The Peterson interview can be heard here and the Cross interview here.
An earlier interview takes "The Dream Gallery" as its subject. Mark was the guest of Charles Sepos of KRCB, the NPR affiliate for California's Sonoma County. Hear it here.
Among Mark's albums, The Cave of Wondrous Voice has received the most attention from classical radio. WWFM's David Osenberg aired a lengthy two-part interview in July 2020 that covers the entire span of Mark's output for Delos. Here are the links for each 59-minute show -- WWFM1 and WWFM2.
Around the same time, Julie Amacher of Minnesota Public Radio included a 23-minute interview in her New Classical Tracks series -- the program is here. In February 2021, Rob Kennedy of WCPE The Classical Station put together an hourlong feature on Mark's music journey with a choice selection of tracks -- it is here.
The Chicago-based online arts magazine Stay Thirsty published an extensive email interview with Mark covering a wide range of topics -- read it here.
There have also been two feature articles on the creation of the Marina Tsvetaeva cycle -- from the online magazine Russian Life and the Bowdoin College newspaper.
The eminent David Shifrin connected with Ken Field of WMBR, MIT's radio station, to discuss Cave, his first encounters with Mark and other matters pertinent to clarinetists -- WMBR
The most fun of the radio interviews is probably the one by Dacia Clay of Houston Public Media for the charming and informative podcast "Classical Classroom." In it, Mark and Dacia define art song and discuss its value, listen to some music along the way, and rehash some of Mark's musical history. Check it out here.
Two years later the irrepressible Ms. Clay, having moved over to KING-FM's Second Inversion site in Seattle, interviewed Mark again after the release of "Time and Distance." Their conversation is here.
In 2016, the opera "Home Is a Harbor" was aired in its entirety on KCBX, the NPR station for California's Central Coast. Excerpts from Mark's interview with program host Bettina Swigger can be found here.
The website of Los Angeles' venerable KCET, America's largest independent public television station, issued a long piece on Mark's work by Sarah Linn, arts writer for The Tribune of San Luis Obispo, Ca. It can be viewed here. Ms. Linn also wrote this profile at the time of release of "Terrain of the Heart."
Ryah Cooley of the New Times of San Luis Obispo wrote this look at the origins and making of "Home Is a Harbor."
Mark had wide-ranging chats about "Terrain of the Heart" with Ted Peterson of Estero Bay Community Radio in Morro Bay, Ca., and Jim Cross of WGDR, community and public radio for Central Vermont. The Peterson interview can be heard here and the Cross interview here.
An earlier interview takes "The Dream Gallery" as its subject. Mark was the guest of Charles Sepos of KRCB, the NPR affiliate for California's Sonoma County. Hear it here.