Henry Schlinger of Culture Spot LA reviews Mark Abel’s new release, The Cave of Wondrous Voice:
“The Cave of Wondrous Voice, the latest recording featuring new works by composer Mark Abel, is itself a wondrous creation. It features a variety of chamber music pieces in a traditional style but with a contemporary sound. … The two compositions for clarinet bookend the album, beginning with the wispy Intuition’s Dance, and both works feature renowned performers, clarinetist David Shifrin and pianist Carol Rosenberger. Intuition’s Dance is a light, free-flowing 10-minute dance with waves of clarinet-piano octaves bridging the more traditional clarinet solo with piano accompaniment. The composition vacillates between flights of fancy and more contemplative moments, which Shifrin and Rosenberger handle very nimbly. Intuition’s Dance is followed by four songs on poems by the Russian poet Tsvetaeva (translated by Alyssa Dinega Gillespie), the first-ever setting of Tsvetaeva’s poetry in English translation. … Plitmann’s voice is superb, and the juxtaposition with the English horn, played by Sarah Beck adds to the evocative, earthy nature of each song. … The Elastic Hours is part playful and part dreamy but always engaging and melodic enough to be accessible to those listeners who prefer traditional classical music to more contemporary pieces. And, as with the other pieces on this CD, the musicians convey Abel’s intentions admirably. … In all of these compositions, Abel shows a remarkable sensitivity in not only composing for the particular instruments, but in expressing himself with them. The music is contemporary, but accessible with melodic and harmonic lines that one notices and remembers. On this CD, Abel has demonstrated a real propensity for chamber music writing. With his previous compositions for voice and piano, he has shown himself to be a composer of lieder, but with The Cave of Wondrous Voice, Abel has announced his arrival as a serious chamber music composer.”
—Henry Schlinger, Culture Spot LA