Abel, Mark / Time And Distance
Album: Time And Distance   Collection:Classical
Artist:Abel, Mark   Added:Jul 2019
Label:Delos Productions  

A-File Activity
Add Date: 2019-07-30 Pull Date: 2019-10-01 Charts: Classical/Experimental
Week Ending: Sep 29
Airplays: 1

Recent Airplay
1. Sep 28, 2019: Music Casserole
Those Who Loved Medusa (7:53), In The Rear View Mirror, Now: The Nature Of Friendship (7:40)

Album Review
Larry Koran
Reviewed 2019-07-20
Abel has composed art songs for soprano and for mezzo-soprano accompanied variously by piano, piano and organ, and piano and percussion. All the songs utilize rich harmony, but rarely the simple major and minor scales of Western music, often sounding instead, pentatonic. The music is lyrical, sonorous and generally pleasing. The songs convey messages embedded in the poetry of Kate Gale, Joanne Regenhardt and Abel himself. The texts and a rich commentary are provided in the insert booklet. Track 1 is lyrical, crystalline; 2 opens with shimmering sounds of a crotale (a small, tuned cymbal) and becomes jazzy; 3 combines lean piano and lush organ, and is poignant, with piercing, leaping soprano lines; 4 conveys restless reflection mixed with tenderness, elegy, dismay, and occasional sarcasm; 5. is a lament, pessimistic; 6 is meditative; 7 stately grief, love, and cruel depression; 8 awe at nature, and beautiful melody symbolizing appreciation for spiritual values; 9 upbeat love and its uncertainties; 10 is contemplative, dissonant; 11 opens in cocktail lounge mode and is optimistic.

Track Listing
1. The Invocation (4:23)   6. The Ocean Of Forgiveness: Desert Wind (4:34)
2. Those Who Loved Medusa (7:53)   7. The Ocean Of Forgiveness: Sally’s Suicide (4:21)
3. In The Rear View Mirror, Now: The Long Goodbye (6:36)   8. The Ocean Of Forgiveness: In Love With The Sky (4:11)
4. In The Rear View Mirror, Now: The World Clock (5:06)   9. The Ocean Of Forgiveness: Reunion (3:25)
5. In The Rear View Mirror, Now: The Nature Of Friendship (7:40)   10. The Ocean Of Forgiveness: Patience (3:25)
  11. The Benediction (6:18)