"Michael
Abels' [More] Seasons begins with low strings building to the full section.
The very busy strings are joined by the woodwinds, and eventually by the brass,
working to a near, but controlled, frenzy. It is not an easy piece, but is
one of the best new works heard recently. The composer was in the audience
and received well-deserved enthusiastic applause."
-- Richmond Times-Dispatch, 5/03/99
"Abels'
More Seasons... is an energetic, at times raucous piece built from "germs"
or phrases very much like those Vivaldi used in his depictions of stormy weather
and in the perpetual-motion finales of his concertos. It is faithful to baroque
tradition in its harpsichord-cello-bass continuo (rhythm) section, and faithful
to Italian baroque heritage in its scoring... But it's just as much a creature
of our time in its high energy level, crunches of dissonant harmony and almost
slapstick humor."
-- Richmond Times-Dispatch, 1/15/00
Premiere: 9 January 1999 by the Springfield Symphony, Springfield, MA under the direction of Mark Russell Smith, Music Director
More Seasons is my own spin on the music of the early Baroque. I chose the title because of how clearly people identify Vivaldi's The Four Seasons with the music of that period. There are quotes from the Spring and Summer concerti, but the themes are subjected to maniacal, Minimalist abuses. It's Vivaldi in a Mixmaster.
The best analogy for this piece is to imagine that you're standing in an art gallery, looking at a very traditional Baroque painting through a plate of protective glass. Gradually, the glass distorts, becoming convex, then concave, then opaque, and finally fractured like a prism or even a kaleidoscope. So at times you see an entirely conventional painting, and at others an unconventional one that is constructed entirely of familiar Baroque gestures.
The piece does have a deliciously evil sense of humor. I don't know how one could quote Vivaldi and avoid it.
Written: 1998
Instrumentation:
2(1)
2 2; 2 2 0 0; timp, hpschd; stgs
Performance Highlights:
St
Paul Chamber Orchestra, Richmond, Springfield
Audio Samples: Clip
one, Clip
two 
Publisher: Subito Music Corporation
