Mark Abel’s Spectrum is an Opera News Critic’s Choice
Subscribers can view the full review on OperaNews.com
Archive for Mark Abel
Journal of Singing Review for Mark Abel’s Spectrum
Gregory Berg has a new review of Mark Abel’s Spectrum album in the March/April 2023 issue of The Journal of Singing: “It is good to have another recording of music by Mark Abel, a composer who has a lot to say and has some very intriguing ways of saying it. The collection at hand features…
High Praise for Mark Abel’s “Trois Femmes” in The Journal of Singing
The Journal of Singing‘s latest issue features a wonderful new review for Mark Abel’s “Trois Femmes” from the album, Spectrum: “Mark Abel, whose works frequently have been reviewed in this column, is a gifted and fascinating composer… The texts are effective and insightful, drawing the listener into the intriguing life stories of three women, icons…
Mark Abel and Hila Plitmann Discuss Spectrum on the Crossover Media Podcast
The Crossover Media Podcast hosted Mark Abel and Hila Plitmann to discuss Spectrum! Listen now on Spotify or on your favorite podcast app: See the full writeup of the Podcast on Crossover Media’s blog on Medium.
Fanfare Magazine Reviews Mark Abel’s Spectrum
The March/April 2023 issue of Fanfare Magazine features a warm recommendation for Spectrum: Music by Mark Abel: “[Mark Abel’s] music is tonal, although at times it stretches tonal boundaries, and he has a genuine melodic gift that serves him well. … [The Book of Esther]… is scored for soprano (Esther) and mezzo-soprano (Vashti, the queen…
The Whole Note Reviews Mark Abel’s Spectrum
The December 2022–January 2023 issue of The Whole Note features a wonderful review for our Mark Abel: Spectrum release: “Not only do we meet Isabel Bayrakdarian, a haunting soprano singing emotionally in praise of three women artists we might never have known if Abel had not set their lives to song, but we find ourselves…
Gramophone Reviews Mark Abel: Spectrum
“Mark Abel continues to demonstrate his versatility in the works on the newest Delos release of his music, ‘Spectrum’, a generous two-disc helping of song-cycles, chamber pieces and excerpts from an opera still roaming around the California-based composer’s fertile brain. As the previous recordings revealed, Abel writes in a poetic tonal style, at times reminiscent…
Classical-Modern Music Review Amazed by Mark Abel’s Spectrum
Grego Applegate Edwards’ Classical-Modern Music Review has a great recommendation for Mark Abel: Spectrum recording: “Listening to this set numerous times reveals a composer of lyrical gifts, a crafter of vibrant melodic-harmonic landscapes of a ravishing sort, perhaps in the footsteps but not the actual shoes of a Samuel Barber (the Knoxville and such). There…
In-Depth Textura Review for Mark Abel’s Spectrum recording
Ron Schepper offers an in-depth review of Mark Abel’s new album, Spectrum, in Textura Magazine: “While appreciation for Mark Abel’s music is undeniably enhanced by familiarity with releases such as The Cave of Wondrous Voice (2020), Time and Distance (2018), and Home is a Harbor (2016), it’s not required when the double-CD set Spectrum, the sixth album on Delos by the American…
Kindra Scharich and Jeffrey LaDeur Perform Mark Abel’s 1966
Mezzo-soprano Kindra Scharich and pianist Jeffrey LaDeur perform excerpts from Mark Abel’s song cycle “1966,” a composition on Abel’s Delos album Spectrum: 1966 1966 was written for Kindra Scharich and her close colleague Jeffrey LaDeur. The cycle evokes the long-ago year when I turned 18 – a magic and unsettling time filled with life-altering events.…
Mark Abel – Trois Femmes du Cinema: Anne Wiazemsky, Pina Pellicer, and Larisa Sheptiko
Composer Mark Abel discusses the lives and careers of Anne Wiazemsky, Pina Pellicer, and Larisa Shepitko – the three subjects of his song cycle, “Trois Femmes du Cinema”. The cycle appears on Abel’s Delos album Spectrum! The work is sung by soprano Isabel Bayrakdarian, accompanied by pianist Carol Rosenberger. Anne Wiazemsky Pina Pellicer Larisa Shepitko
Fanfare Reviews Approaching Autumn
Colin Clarke reviews Jonah Kim and Robert Koenig’s Approaching Autumn release featuring Grieg, Kodály, and Mark Abel in Fanfare Magazine: “This disc, titled Approaching Autumn, is a real statement from the heart for Korean-born cellist Jonah Kim… his aim is to find “common areas” between people(s) and to learn “what we all actually care about.”…
Thinking of Kyiv
Mark Abel shares this photo of a pin given to him by Ali Olshan’s mother, who is Ukrainian. Since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, both Mark and Carol Rosenberger have been thinking of the “Great Gate of Kyiv” movement from Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition and were reminded of pianist John Browning’s remarkable Delos recording, which…
The Whole Note Reviews Approaching Autumn
Jonah Kim’s new Approaching Autumn release with pianist Robert Koenig and featuring a world premiere from Mark Abel landed a wonderful feature in The Whole Note‘s December 2021 Editor’s Corner: “Kim’s…performance is outstanding – big, brash and gritty as called for in the outer movements; sensitive and lyrical in the Adagio (con gran espressione) – and his…
The Strad Reviews Approaching Autumn
The January 2022 issue of The Strad features a review of Jonah Kim and Robert Koenig’s “triumphant performance” on Approaching Autumn! “A clear, blooming sound graces the opening of the Kodály Solo Sonata, with a defined rhythmic definition charging the invention. There’s no doubt that this monumental work is the standout performance here, as Jonah…
Copyright © 2023 All Rights Reserved
Delos Productions, Inc.
P.O. Box 343, Sonoma, CA 95476
707-996-3844