MARK ABEL TIME and world premiere recordings DISTANCE DE 3550 1 DELOS DE 3550 MARK ABEL DELOS DE 3550 MARK ABEL MARK ABEL TIME AND DISTANCE works for voice and piano, plus organ* and percussion§ THE INVOCATION (text: Mark Abel) THOSE WHO LOVED MEDUSA§ (text: Kate Gale) IN THE REAR VIEW MIRROR, NOW* (text: Mark Abel) ◆ ◆ TIME AND DISTANCE TIME AND DISTANCE THE OCEAN OF FORGIVENESS Five Poems of Joanne Regenhardt THE BENEDICTION (text: Mark Abel) HILA PLITMANN soprano JANELLE DeSTEFANO mezzo-soprano TALI TADMOR ◆ CAROL ROSENBERGER piano piano BRUCE CARVER, percussion ◆ MARK ABEL, organ ORIGINAL ORIGINAL DIGITAL DIGITAL 1. THE INVOCATION (4:23) MARK ABEL JANELLE DeSTEFANO, mezzo-soprano CAROL ROSENBERGER, piano TIME and 2. THOSE WHO LOVED MEDUSA (7:53) HILA PLITMANN, soprano DISTANCE CAROL ROSENBERGER, piano BRUCE CARVER, percussion IN THE REAR VIEW MIRROR, NOW (19:26) 3. The Long Goodbye (6:36) 4. The World Clock (5:04) 5. The Nature of Friendship (7:40) HILA PLITMANN, soprano TALI TADMOR, piano MARK ABEL, organ THE OCEAN OF FORGIVENESS (19:04) Five Poems of Joanne Regenhardt 6. Desert Wind (4:34) 7. Sally’s Suicide (4:21) 8. In Love with the Sky (4:11) 9. Reunion (2:33) 10. Patience (3:25) JANELLE DeSTEFANO, mezzo-soprano TALI TADMOR, piano 11. THE BENEDICTION (6:18) HILA PLITMANN, soprano TALI TADMOR, piano DE 3550 Total playing time: 57:03 EAR, INTELLECT, EMOTION … AND PRESCIENCE t has been my privilege and pleasure mensions to the poet’s verbal and sym- to have written introductions or pro- bolic design. This ability applies equally Igram notes for the three previous Delos to the often-jarring societal observations albums of compositions by Mark Abel. expressed in Abel’s own texts, as well as These include five song cycles and a short those by modern-day poets like Kate Gale three-act opera. As I have experienced in The Palm Trees Are Restless, the power- each of his creations, I have found my- ful cycle paired on record with Home Is a self wondering whether there is any other Harbor. As sensitive listeners will discover, composer active today more profoundly Time and Distance, Abel’s fourth album for attuned to contemporary social and po- Delos, features repertoire that touches on litical realities—or able to examine and all these qualities, and more. illuminate them in music (and often in his own lyrics) of such searing intensity. The Let’s examine the four aspects of human ex- Dream Gallery (DE 3418), his stunning de- perience named in this introductory essay’s but album for Delos, explores such sub- title, and how Abel employs each to reach jects within the unique microcosm of what his listeners and achieve his artistic goals. I’ll call “California living.” Home Is a Harbor (DE 3495), his engaging first opera, is also EAR: The aural framework of music sur- firmly rooted in the cultural and sociopo- rounds and carries all the other currents litical milieus of our time. of meaning and effect found in any re- markable art song. What good is any I’ve also marveled at how effectively Abel other characteristic of a song if the music expresses extremes of emotion—from doesn’t engage and stimulate the ear? giddy elation to deepest desolation— It’s the essential vehicle of any song’s in- particularly as they pertain to his own tended content of in-depth thought and experience, as in his cycle The Dark-Eyed emotion. The heart of any good song is Chameleon, from Terrain of the Heart (DE its lyrics, but that “heart” would not exist 3438). That same album also bears wit- without the music that illuminates it and ness, in the Five Poems of Rainer Maria lays it bare. Rilke, to Abel’s skill in accomplishing the goal of every serious composer of art songs: to amplify and lend deeper di- Continued on Page 68 2 3 Hila Janelle Plitmann 4 DeStefano Hila Janelle Plitmann DeStefano 5 Continued from Page 24 impulses, Abel’s music establishes emo- tional connection—often on an intense, Abel—a true musical polymath—has drawn “gut” level. Emotion is the cornerstone on his lifelong exposure to a huge range of human nature and experience—and of genres in deriving his uniquely eupho- can therefore never be divorced from the nious stylistic fusion. As I’ve described it affairs of mankind. Dissect any human before, it combines the “in-your-face” issue or genre of worldly art, and you’ll impact of rock and the free-flowing, qua- find emotion at its heart. Abel never fails si-improvisational flow of jazz in an overall to bring it to bear in his creations—with context of classical complexity of the kind almost overwhelming “right between the that rewards repeated hearings. eyes” impact one moment, and inscruta- ble subtlety the next. There’s not a selec- INTELLECT: One of the most succinct and tion in this album that doesn’t touch the revealing descriptions of Abel’s art that heart or move the soul in some way. I’ve seen is the headline of a cover story published by the San Luis Obispo Tribune The lyricism pervading most of Abel’s in 2014: “Music to Make You Think.” With music has never been more tellingly dis- Time and Distance, that runs true as ever. played than in The Ocean of Forgiveness, Abel—who is not only a former performing his setting of five brief and deeply felt po- musician, but also a onetime foreign affairs ems by Joanne Regenhardt. That lyricism, journalist—is blessed with powers of ob- coupled with poignancy, is also strongly servation and experience that he uses to present even in works shot through with keenly record and interpret complex social despair, such as the first and last songs of trends, political affairs and the ever-elusive the cycle In the Rear View Mirror, Now. human condition. His heady insights and conclusions find their maximum expres- PRESCIENCE: Therein lies perhaps the sion in material for which he has crafted most striking aspect of this newest record- his own lyrics: songs and operatic episodes ing. Abel constantly picks up on strands of that often leave a perceptive listener star- society’s unresolved behavioral patterns— tled—even gobsmacked—at the wisdom be they in the public or private spheres. and truth they contain. He then traces them over time as they de- velop into full-blown phenomena—often EMOTION: Unlike many of today’s de- becoming crises that, once resolved (or tached and abstractly intellectual artistic at least defined), make for much-needed 6 progress as we lurch our way toward high- but it feels ever more relevant as 2018 er planes of civilization. unfolds. While first reminding us of Amer- ica’s natural beauty and material bounty Take, for example, Those Who Loved Me- “from sea to shining sea,” the text goes on dusa, a shattering setting of a poem by to depict in poetic imagery the seemingly Kate Gale, delivered to visceral effect by fathomless societal and political schisms Grammy-winning soprano Hila Plitmann. that wrack our fair land. Sexual abuse and harassment of wom- en—along with blatant misogyny and Abel may have written about ugliness discrimination—has been a pervasive here—about disagreement, despair and morality flaw since the dawn of mankind, even hate. But he rarely fails to balance fostering constant and untold criminal beauty against such ugliness, and in The behavior by testosterone- or power-driv- Benediction eloquently places his hopes en males of our species. Yet the victims of for the future in the “open hearts” of such crimes have only rarely dared speak emerging generations. of them, much less reveal the names of their perpetrators. Allow me to end on a personal note: My oldest grandson is just such an open This album’s production and release coin- heart, having turned eighteen not long cide roughly with the rise of the “Me Too” ago. He is aghast at the state of the world movement, whose “it’s about time” mes- he seems destined to inherit but has not sage is empowering women everywhere lost hope or purpose. He can hardly wait to finally come forward with their disturb- to start exercising his right to vote. He, ing stories and confront their violators. and others like him, carry our future in Lines in Medusa like “Carry this story for- their hands. ward. Rape is the fault of the victim” strike listeners on an elemental level—not only —Lindsay Koob as evil lies, but as artistic utterances from poet and composer alike that could hardly be more timely. The final piece, The Benediction, makes a similar impression. As Abel tells us in his booklet notes, he wrote the song in 2012; 7 COMPOSER’S NOTES ime and Distance offers some fresh perspectives on the challenge of Twriting art song relevant to the pres- ent era. Two compositions add organ and orchestral percussion to the customary voice-and-piano configuration, while the texts encompass impressive poetry by Kate Gale and Joanne Regenhardt, and three sets of my own lyrics. Soprano Hila Plitmann, mezzo-soprano Janelle DeSte- fano, and pianists Tali Tadmor and Carol Rosenberger interpret the album’s five works with great skill and insight. The Invocation, sung by DeStefano, is in effect an introduction to the rest of the program. Its theme is life’s ambiguities and the eventual realization: All we can be sure of is that many surprises are in store. The music and lyrics suggest, and muse upon, the seductions and potential dan- few years ago in The Palm Trees Are Rest- gers lurking along the road.