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Mark Abel (b.1949) seems to specialize in small forms and chamber music, and his style keeps to a controlled but disconcertingly uncomplicated compositional practice that focuses on a sense of the flow of individual lines. He seems to avoid buildups of complexity or even climaxes, with lines that flow easily in a “laid back” near atonal idiom that never resolves into a sense of specific key or harmony. 

His music has been featured on several Delos releases over the years, and this new collection 4.2.2, features four separate duos: a song cycle for voice and piano, As The World Turns; Samantha Sketches for flute/piccolo and piano; Symbiotica for viola and organ; and A Door Opens for cello and piano. Each of these is recorded with different musicians, with the composer playing the organ in Symbiotica. The two separate parts in each duo usually proceed without coming together in vertical conjunctions, so chords build up only occasionally in the instrumental pieces, but have no conventional chord-like formations and never fall into any bar-like rigidity.

The performances and recorded sound are all first rate, although the songs could have been closer mic’d to render the consonants more clearly. They are sung by rising Canadian mezzo-soprano Simone MacIntosh who has a solid evenly produced voice with a strong but very controlled vibrato. The setting is simple: a rising and falling, for each syllable or word. The accompaniment, provided by pianist Michael McMahon, flows freely and mostly seems unconnected, beat-wise to the voice part. 

The restraint and limpid clarity of most of this music makes me wonder what a bigger vocal piece such as an opera would sound like from this composer.