Two song cycles form the cornerstone of “Spectrum” (Delos, DE 3592) by acclaimed composer Mark Abel, which features some of the most outstanding voices on stage today: Hila Plitmann, Isabel Bayrakdarian, and Kindra Scharich. Trois Femmes du Cinema (Three Women of Cinema) is about cult figures Anne Wiazemsky, Pina Pellicer and Larisa Shepitko. Two Scenes from “The Book of Esther” is a provocative excerpt from an opera in development. The album’s impressive array of instrumentalists includes pianist Carol Rosenberger; fellow pianists Dominic Cheli, Sean Kennard and Jeffrey LaDeur; Alexander String Quartet violist David Samuel; Pacific Symphony concertmaster Dennis Kim and cello star Jonah Kim.
Despite starting your classical music career while still involved in a different line of work (journalism), you have made an impressive mark with critical acclaim and six albums (!) under your belt. What made you want to write concert music?
Classical has been my principal interest for many years, though initially it was as a fan only. For a good portion of my 21-year journalism career, I wasn’t certain I’d be able to raise the quality of my spare-time composing to clear the invisible bar of credibility that would result in my work being taken seriously. But I kept at it, juggling creative breakthroughs with strong doses of self-criticism. Finally, by the early 2000s, I felt confident I’d developed my own voice. Getting the music heard, recorded and performed since then is another story, of course.
Tell us about how your background prepared you for this path?
My father was quite a devotee of pre-20th century music – Mozart, Beethoven and Brahms in particular. So in my childhood I got meaningful exposure to classical on a high aesthetic plane. But I began rebelling in my early teens, abandoning it in favor of the innovative modern jazz of the era. I did understand jazz deeply enough to realize I lacked the discipline to master it as a player. The best rock of the ‘60s, however, proved a viable entry point. I quit college after two years and went hard at this music for an extended period. It wasn’t until the late 1970s that I began facing the hard truth that rock is quite a limiting medium and further creative growth in that context would be impossible for me. With hindsight, it now seems inevitable that I would make my way back to classical, starting with a long period of catch-up to learn about the many composers I wasn’t familiar with. Happily, I was ready and eager to sink my teeth into this – but as a fan, not a composer. That came later.
How would you describe your compositional voice or style?
There’s a strong streak of lyricism in my work, in both the music and words (which I often write myself). The melodic component is important to me, and it’s never far off -- probably ingrained due to my prolific songwriting in the rock field. But I’m not a neo-Romantic. I’ve listened to a lot of progressive and avant-garde music over the years and elements of this can be heard in my output. Put simply, I’ve absorbed a lot of musical styles over time and it’s always been my goal to synthesize them into a cohesive – and hopefully seamless – original style.
How has that voice evolved over the course of the six albums and your years of composing?
Good question. Lately I’ve been re-listening to some of my earlier “serious” compositions and am getting some fresh perspective. It’s clear that the basic shape of my style has been set for some time. In the last six years or so I’ve been experimenting with differing iterations of a fully formed identity – a 100 minutes-plus opera (something I didn’t think I’d ever attempt), expanding my range of expression in song cycles and lyric writing, and, perhaps most significant, becoming comfortable writing chamber music. This last element has definitely stretched my horizons. One always wants to make every note count but chamber music is in many ways the ultimate test.
You’ve collaborated with many brilliant performers across the albums, some of whom are featured on Spectrum. Tell us about how you got to know one or two of them, and how working together came about.
The one I’ve worked with most extensively is the soprano Hila Plitmann – best known for her collaborations with John Corigliano, David Del Tredici and Richard Danielpour. She’s an absolutely fabulous and unique artist, dedicated from the start of her career to being a vessel for new music. Hila has very much inspired me to forge ahead and be more daring. I was very little known when I came cold calling in the summer of 2014, but that didn’t matter to her. What did was my song cycle The Palm Trees Are Restless, the first of what has grown into a sheaf of six projects together. I’ve also been blessed and am proud to have attracted such eminent musicians as David Shifrin, Fred Sherry, Isabel Bayrakdarian and Carol Rosenberger. But I find a special gratification in working with people on the way up, like pianist Dominic Cheli and mezzo-soprano Kindra Scharich; I’ll be very happy if their fine work on Spectrum helps boost their profiles.
What do you hope listeners take away from Spectrum?
I’m self-taught and didn’t come up through the familiar academic routes. This sets me apart in some respects from most composers; for example, very few write their own texts. I consider my composing an authentic reflection of who I am from an artistic and intellectual standpoint. And I think most people sense that after spending some time with my work. Spectrum is the broadest survey to date of what I do, and I hope listeners find the “content” resonating with them on more than one level.