Mark Abel To Release New Delos Album 4.4.2 Featuring Four Premiere Duos
The album will spotlight new vocal and chamber works performed by internationally acclaimed artists.
American composer Mark Abel will release 4.4.2, his seventh album on the Delos label, featuring four works written for two musicians. The project will present a cross-section of Abel’s contemporary vocal and chamber writing, performed by an ensemble of internationally recognized artists.
The recording will include the premiere of Abel’s song cycle As The World Turns, performed by Swiss-Canadian mezzo-soprano Simone McIntosh in her recording debut, joined by pianist Michael McMahon. Written as a sequence of standalone yet connected scenes, the cycle reflects Abel’s “oft-lyrical, melody-rich” vocal writing.
Samantha Sketches for flute/piccolo and piano will be performed by flutist Alice K. Dade and pianist Ieva Jokubaviciute. The work was inspired by Dade’s performance of Schulhoff’s Concertino and is described as an episodic interior journey.
The album will also introduce Symbiotica for solo violin and organ, performed by violinist Jennifer Choi with the composer at the organ. Influenced by Frank Martin’s Sonata da Chiesa, the piece interweaves divergent musical styles and extends the expressive range of the violin.
Rounding out the program is the premiere of A Door Opens, featuring cellist Jonah Kim and pianist Keisuke Nakagoshi. Kim and Nakagoshi will bring the work to the concert stage at the San Francisco Music Festival ahead of the album’s release.
4.4.2 will be available for radio broadcast beginning in early January 2026.
