Unholy Sonnets
Catalog #: NV6578
Release Date: November 10, 2023
21st CenturyChamberVocal MusicPianoVoiceWind EnsembleFew forms in classical music are as underrated as the song cycle. It is easy to be betrayed by the seemingly-modest set-up – piano and solo voice – requiring well-calculated finesse from a composer to seize its minimalist power and bring it into full bloom. UNHOLY SONNETS, a collection of songs by German-born American Samuel Adler, succeeds greatly in this effort. Although all works presented are in English and the tonal language is decidedly modern, there is much that harks back to the German art song tradition of the 19th century. Despite the title, these are largely quiet, pensive pieces, confidently resting in a tranquil serenity.
Mythical Creatures
Catalog #: NV6566
Release Date: October 27, 2023
21st CenturyChamberVocal MusicClarinetFluteWind EnsembleTreat yourself to the fantastical, whimsical, and sometimes mischievous nature of Paul Kopetz’s MYTHICAL CREATURES, featuring a song cycle on the poetry of Svyetlana Hadgraft and a variety of inspired portraits. Each of the 10 movements is a musical impression of a mythical creature that has existed in the folklore of various cultures around the world since the beginning of time. With an emotionally broad music that highlights Kopetz’s remarkable compositional range, there’s something for everyone in this release, especially for those with a penchant for the characteresque vocal works of the 20th century.
High Voltage Chamber Music
Catalog #: NV6366
Release Date: September 24, 2021
21st CenturyChamberString QuartetWind EnsembleNavona Records proudly presents HIGH VOLTAGE CHAMBER MUSIC, the latest album from composer Jan Järvlepp. Following close on the heels of CONCERTO 2000 and FLIGHTS OF FANCY, Järvlepp carries forward the momentum with this newest release. Featured on the album is String Quartet No. 1, the composer’s first full-length string quartet—an important milestone for any composer.
Lock & Key Vol. II
Catalog #: NV6335
Release Date: February 12, 2021
21st CenturyChamberClarinetPianoWind EnsembleLOCK & KEY VOL II is the second presentation of five composers drawing from the well of inspiration – in highly heterogeneous ways and from a plethora of sources, yet all united by a common theme: the profound depths of the human experience. The pieces all revel exuberantly: in the natural beauty of Iceland, the nostalgia evoked by a distantly familiar melody, the random augury of a deck of tarot cards, late 19th Century anthems adapted for woodwind quintet, or the kinetic energy of musical gestures.
Drift
Catalog #: NV6318
Release Date: November 13, 2020
21st CenturyChamberClarinetElectroacousticWind EnsembleThe Society of Composers, Inc. continues its decades-long mission to promote and disseminate contemporary music on DRIFT, the 34th installment of the SCI Composers’ Series. DRIFT marks the 10th album in the series to release on Navona Records, and SCI continues to curate new works by luminaries that span generations.
Windswept
Catalog #: NV6245
Release Date: August 9, 2019
21st CenturyChamberWind EnsembleThroughout Navona Records’ WINDSWEPT, the wind quintet makes up the characters of collective stories written by five unique composers. In each piece, the Boston-based Arcadian Winds project a storytelling experience that is joyful, moving, and meaningful to hear.
Peace, Nature, & Renewal
Catalog #: NV6220
Release Date: March 22, 2019
21st CenturyChamberOrchestralChoirOrchestraWind EnsembleComposer Mark Dal Porto's award-winning, neo-Romantic Song of Eternity for Orchestra starts off THE MUSIC OF MARK DAL PORTO in epic fashion. If Mahler and Prokofiev had collaborated on a composition, it would probably have sounded a lot like this: pensive, evocative, and nostalgic. Song of Eternity describes the eternal renewal of nature with cinematic impact. It is inspired by an ancient Chinese poem, as is the next piece, I Seek Rest for My Lonely Heart for A-Cappella Choir. This work continues the subject of nature, albeit in a more individualized fashion, capturing the sentiment of a distressed soul in search of peace in a pastoral setting.
Pictures of the Hidden
Catalog #: NV6180
Release Date: September 14, 2018
21st CenturyChamberVocal MusicString QuartetVoiceWind EnsembleKamyar Mohajer’s PICTURES OF THE HIDDEN honors the composer’s “four Grand Masters:" Johann Sebastian Bach, Persian poet Hafez, and his parents. In this album, Mohajer shares his artistic upbringing by combining his roots in Persian modality with his love of Western classical music.
Light & Shadows, Waves & Time
Catalog #: NV6154
Release Date: April 13, 2018
21st CenturyChamberSolo InstrumentalClarinetSaxophoneWind EnsembleAn exploration of the unique timbral characteristics and technical extensions of wind instruments, Gregory Wanamaker’s LIGHT AND SHADOWS, WAVES AND TIME is comprised of eight compositions that collectively illustrate the composer’s ability to integrate various genre influences into a distinctive whole. His music has been lauded as “pure gold, shot through with tenderness and grace” by the San Francisco Chronicle and “achingly beautiful” by the Palm Beach Daily News.
Formika
Catalog #: NV6129
Release Date: February 9, 2018
21st CenturyChamberPianoSaxophoneWind EnsembleMexican composer Felipe Pérez Santiago introduces the follow up to his 2013 album, Mantis with his first Navona release, FORMIKA, an album of chamber music. Pérez Santiago continues his series with a vast notational layering and timing propelled by traditional instrumentation. Masterful playing by choice ensembles like Tamayo and Onix, create a particularly kaleidoscopic nostalgia in this pitching album.
Music for Woodwinds
Catalog #: NV6127
Release Date: November 10, 2017
21st CenturyChamberPianoWind EnsembleNavona Records proudly presents MUSIC FOR WOODWINDS from composer Scott Pender, his fourth appearance on the label. On this album, Pender showcases his chamber works for woodwinds from the last thirty years in ensemble combinations both common and unfamiliar.
Back Before Bach
Catalog #: NV6106
Release Date: July 14, 2017
RenaissanceChamberLiturgicalWind EnsembleBACK BEFORE BACH, the latest Navona Records release from the Philadelphia-based ‘Renaissance band’ Piffaro, is an exceptional compendium of sixteenth and early seventeenth century German and Franco-Flemish music. As the album’s title suggests, the group of composers Piffaro features can be seen as the precedent for the luminaries of the German baroque era, specifically Johann Sebastian Bach. With BACK BEFORE BACH simultaneously drawing from a wide variety of genres, yet also focusing on a geographically and temporally limited group of composers, Piffaro succeeds wildly in presenting the musical foundation from which Bach and his contemporaries emerged.
Pheonix Ensemble
Catalog #: NV6076
Release Date: February 10, 2017
20th CenturyChamberClarinetString QuartetWind EnsembleNavona Records is proud to present PHOENIX ENSEMBLE: CHAMBER WORKS OF HENRI MARTEAU AND ALEXANDER ZEMLINSKY. The Phoenix Ensemble is a mixed instrument chamber music ensemble. Founded in 1991 by New York-based clarinetist Mark Lieb, the Phoenix Ensemble aims to “inspire a new and diverse audience for classical music.” They undertake this challenge by presenting two works by late romantic French composer Henri Marteau, who is relatively unknown in the music world, as well as presenting one work by Austrian composer Alexander Zemlinsky. Both composers were active at the turn of the 19th century.
Between The Echoes
Catalog #: NV6057
Release Date: September 9, 2016
21st CenturyChamberSolo InstrumentalGuitarWind EnsembleNavona’s latest compilation release, BETWEEN THE ECHOES, showcases selected recent chamber works, expressing the common theme of recollections and interpretations of past experiences. Moving across the spectrums of moods and dramatics, each piece brings a harmonic resolution to its soulful journey. This album joins multiple personalities in a collection of propulsive musical expression.
Los Ministriles in the New World
Catalog #: NV5875
Release Date: June 1, 2012
RenaissanceChamberWind EnsembleFollow Piffaro from Spain to the New World in the 17th century and hear a wild array of secular songs, sacred motets, dances and instrumental fantasias are all performed on Piffaro's amazing collection of period instruments. This album is an all-instrumental homage to the music of Spain that was brought from the Old World, interspersed with music that was developed in the New World and influenced by the rich native cultures that the Spaniards encountered.
Slices
Catalog #: NV5874
Release Date: July 1, 2012
21st CenturyChamberSolo InstrumentalPianoViolinWind EnsembleWho says eclecticism isn't a wonderful thing? Certainly not us at Navona Records. SLICES is a carefully handpicked selection of new chamber works by contemporary composers designed to showcase the diversity of modern music-making, and these pieces by Sundin, Bakker, Sainsbury, Rusnak, Beeler, and Burns cut right through the oft-repeated misconception that classical music is dead on the vine.
Sculpting the Air
Catalog #: NV5852
Release Date: June 1, 2011
20th CenturyChamberLarge EnsembleWind EnsembleSCULPTING THE AIR is a collection of modern works featuring brass and flute instrumentations from composers Samuel Barber, James Adler, Russ Lombardi, Jan Van der Roost, Barry Seroff, Brian Gillett, Juan Sebastian Lach Lau and Richard Crosby. The works on this disc range from a rhapsodic wind quintet originally composed for winds, strings and piano to a musical representation of a familial argument to a spectral piece based on one of Satie's Gymnopédies.
Devisadero
Catalog #: NV5849
Release Date: May 1, 2011
21st CenturyChamberVocal MusicPianoVoiceWind EnsembleDEVISADERO features the original compositions of New Mexico-based composer Christopher Shultis. Through woodwinds, percussion and piano, Shultis is able to vividly describe the New Mexican wilderness and the significance of its beauty. Shultis' compositions invite the listener to experience not only the sound of the music, but what we see and think, and especially, how we breathe, as well.