Mark Abel expands the scope of his âalternative classicalâ idiom with this release containing three major new works and featuring top-drawer West Coast singers Mary Jaeb, Katy Stephan and Richard Mix.

9 MP3 Songs in this album (65:38) !
Related styles: CLASSICAL: Art songs, CLASSICAL: Contemporary



Details:
"Journey Long, Journey Far" opens with âThe Dark-Eyed Chameleon,â a song cycle for soprano and piano that depicts the pathos, elation, grim aftermath and eventual metamorphosis stemming from a shattered love affair. This unique and powerful work is brought fully to life by Mary Jaeb, one of Southern Californiaâs most outstanding and versatile singers. Her wide experience with the crossing over of musical genres beautifully suits Abelâs hybridized style.

The second piece, âGentle Spirit,â is a purely instrumental remembrance of a dear friend whose life was cut short in tragic and random fashion. The composition moves from mystery to affirmation to farewell in a series of linked and often striking episodes.

The final piece (the CDâs second âmega-workâ) is âThe True Believers,â a musical meditation upon religious-based terrorism. The listener is carried on a multi-hued journey that charts the sociological and spiritual origins of the phenomenon, the exultation after a devastating attack of 9/11 dimensions, and concludes with a movement called âThe Accounting,â in which the terrorists are turned away from the nirvana they seek.

The piece takes Abelâs ideas about stylistic synthesis several steps further and owes much of its success to the emotive, side-by-side singing of soprano Katy Stephan and baritone Richard Mix, two of the San Francisco areaâs most respected performers. For much of the piece, the pair assume the characters of the terrorists as they declaim about their ideology in fervent and grandiose terms, while the music probes for underlying psychological currents -- both fearsome and gentle.