• Three Songs to Poems

    Catalog #: NV6617

    Release Date: April 5, 2024

    21st Century
    Vocal Music
    Piano
    Voice

    THREE SONGS TO POEMS brings to life poems written by clinical psychiatrist Dr. Frank Clark set to music by Gordon (Dick) Goodwin. The themes are as emotionally complex as life itself, and so is the music. The pieces illuminate the reflections of a son whose mother suffers from dementia, the joys of becoming a father, as well as the healing of an emotionally neglected child. Heart-wrenchingly performed by tenor Johnnie Felder and pianist Winifred Goodwin, this brief but complete set of songs is bound to leave a lasting impression.

  • Awaiting Golden Light

    Catalog #: NV6616

    Release Date: April 19, 2024

    20th Century
    21st Century
    Vocal Music
    Choir

    Voices of Concinnity finds connection through universal experiences on AWAITING GOLDEN LIGHT. Based in Connecticut, the inclusive professional vocal ensemble melded each singer's unique vocal qualities into the richness of choral sound for this project. Seeking connection through the isolation of a global pandemic, their members took inspiration from gazing at the glowing moon, experiencing the renewal of a new golden sunrise, anticipating wonder at the perseverance of a bulb blooming in spring, and finding solace in shining stars after the loss of a beloved. With this Navona Records release, the ensemble invites listeners to draw their eyes up toward the heavens and out beyond the horizon to find meaning.

  • Motion Studies

    Catalog #: NV6614

    Release Date: April 5, 2024

    21st Century
    Vocal Music
    Choir
    Saxophone

    The Crossing, conducted by Donald Nally, returns to Navona Records with MOTION STUDIES, performing works by commissioned artist Justine Chen’s Shallow Breath and Stealth and commissioned artist Nicholas Cline’s watershed. Reflecting on a culture where data mining and government traceability have become normalized to the point of population complacency, Chen encapsulates the dissecting points of poet Jena Osman’s musings on the 21st-century reframing of paranoia, privacy, and the pervasive desire to run away from the data that follows us. Evidence of these reflections is present in the tittering, whispering, and often frantic conveyances of the ensemble in an unnerving collection of sequences that paint an antagonistic image of the modern machine. watershed designates motion as boundary rather than as escape: the movement of water as a crux point of political power and community resource. Joined by Matthew Levy on tenor sax, the ensemble ebbs with lap and flow as the American history of water is sung and dictated, leading the question of the damage nationalistic attitudes towards shared water resources have caused to our environment. A 2024 Best Choral Performance GRAMMY® nominee and multi-GRAMMY® winning ensemble, The Crossing continually proves itself to be at the forefront of new choral literature and performance. MOTION STUDIES is a release not to be missed.

  • Arp City

    Catalog #: NV6613

    Release Date: April 19, 2024

    21st Century
    Electronic

    It doesn’t happen often that the talents of art and science unite in one person. Lawrence Ball, creator of experimental electronic music and accomplished tutor of mathematics, reconciles both disciplines on his new release, ARP CITY. The result is a truly timeless blend of synthesizers, layered soundscapes, and whimsical human creativity. While the acoustic topography of ARP CITY is undeniably cerebral, it is also captivating to the ear. The instruments employed evoke the groundbreaking era between the 1960s and 1980s, when even the highbrow figures of popular music didn't take themselves too seriously. Yet, there is an ethereal quality to Ball's work that seems to draw its force not from the past; rather, it seems to be a transcendental exploration of a mysterious future.

  • Transition and Apotheosis

    Catalog #: NV6612

    Release Date: April 19, 2024

    21st Century
    Avant-Garde
    Solo Instrumental
    Electronic
    Piano
    Saxophone

    Society of Composers, Inc. presents 10 works from boundary-defying composers on TRANSITION AND APOTHEOSIS, the 35th installment of their celebrated Composers’ Series. Carnyx from Chris Arrell employs the carnyx, the ceremonial and battle trumpet used by Iron Age Celts, to conjure the terror of an army encroaching through the morning mist. Jiyoun Chung’s Scissors is a fantasia-toccata for solo piano inspired by the traditional Korean Scissors dance. 24/7 by Yunfei Li honors the healthcare professionals who served on the frontlines of the COVID-19 pandemic. Transition and Apotheosis from Mike McFerron is a multichannel fixed media piece that maps Danish composer Per Nørgård’s “infinity sequence” to sound elements. Paul Lombardi’s Unwoven incorporates the fractal-like technique used in his past pieces to startling new effects. Robert McClure’s struggling in excess decries the vast amounts of waste humans produce on a daily basis. glass, evaporate[d] from Droki Ouro is a hauntingly beautiful reimagining of 2019’s lips evaporate. William Price’s Sans Titre VII (B) is a modified variation-rondo that explores the wide range, technical agility, and unique extended techniques offered by the saxophone. Der Saus und Braus by Joseph Klein is the sixteenth in a series of short works for solo instruments based on characters in Elias Canetti’s Der Ohrenzeuge: Fünfzig Charaktere (Earwitness: Fifty Characters). Finally, Ania Vu’s Tik-Tak sets the composer’s Polish poem to remind us of the relentless flow of time. SCI renews its decades-long mission to promote and disseminate contemporary music in this Navona Records release.

  • Four Sonatas for Flute & Piano

    Catalog #: NV6611

    Release Date: April 5, 2024

    21st Century
    Romantic
    Chamber
    Flute
    Piano

    Virtuoso Linda Wiley performs four flute sonatas from 19th and 20th century composers on FOUR SONATAS FOR FLUTE AND PIANO. The album fulfills her aspiration to record pieces that are both challenging and also personally meaningful to her. These include Sonata For Flute And Piano by Francis Poulenc, Sonate Pour Flûte Et Piano by Jindřich Feld, Sonata In A Major by César Franck, and Recuerdos De Mexico, Sonata for Flute and Piano by Arthur Gottschalk. Many of the works share a connection to legendary French flutist Jean-Pierre Rampal; Wiley’s flute mentor Jan Cole studied under Rampal for five years, and Wiley is proud to carry on her musical lineage in this Navona Records release.

  • Four Ten-Minute Operas

    Catalog #: NV6610

    Release Date: March 1, 2024

    21st Century
    Opera
    Orchestra
    Voice

    Navona Records is pleased to present FOUR TEN-MINUTE OPERAS from composer Jonathan Sheffer, a collection of works spanning a variety of themes from American history and culture. Performed by the Royal Scottish National Orchestra and emerging UK artists, this release offers operatic explorations into perspectives from the American Civil War, pitfalls of dating in the digital age, religious commentary in the face of tragedy, and a dramatic retelling of a fatal baseball pitch. Conducted by Sheffer himself, each of these 10-minute operas tells an engaging tale that’s sure to strike a chord.

  • Convergence

    Catalog #: NV6608

    Release Date: March 1, 2024

    21st Century
    Avant-Garde
    Electronic
    Saxophone

    What is music but a convergence of story, people, and place? It’s a question that Heidi Radtke’s debut album CONVERGENCE for soprano, alto, and tenor sax asks earnestly, an elegant meshing of the heartbeats behind the sounds of eight living composers, strung together by the laughter and conversation woven into each exploration, and the saxophone’s ability to tell its tale. The full breadth of Radtke’s capability is on display as she navigates the variety of narratives, messages, and sonic uniquities in the landscape of CONVERGENCE, sometimes bolstered forward with a bubbly charm — in the “chicken clucks” of Barry Cockcroft’s Ku Ku — and sometimes with a powerful, reminding grace, — Rahsaan Barber’s Breonna Taylor (How Many More?) – but always with a special musicality. CONVERGENCE explores the intersection of instruments, musical tradition, and the saxophone's ability to explore these soundscapes, especially in the format of saxophone with fixed media. From a reimagination of Debussy to field recordings of natural spaces and sounds taken completely from a cell phone, the fixed media selections boast a wide range of musical styles, but all are connected through storytelling. Ending with the title track, Convergence, Radtke invites the listener to take part in the conversation — the best stories are the ones told together.

  • A Breath of Air

    Catalog #: NV6607

    Release Date: March 15, 2024

    21st Century
    Vocal Music
    Piano
    Voice

    A love of poetry lies at the core of Monica Houghton’s A BREATH OF AIR from Navona Records. She has set to music not only lyrical giants such as Whitman, Dickinson, and Hughes, but also some contemporary poets with their own magnificent lyrical gifts. These soul-touching works are performed to the highest possible standard by select world-class singers and accompanists. A perfect symbiosis on all fronts.

  • Music for Brass and Piano

    Catalog #: NV6605

    Release Date: March 15, 2024

    21st Century
    Chamber
    Trombone
    Trumpet

    Sonatas for brass and piano are a tricky thing to pull off; in consequence, they are few and far between. Andrew Lewinter, himself a long-time orchestral horn player and soloist, has decided to add to the repertoire on MUSIC FOR BRASS AND PIANO: crafting four different sonatas for piano and each instrument of the brass family, and concluding with a dazzling piano quartet. The tonal language of these sonatas — for piano and trumpet, horn, trombone and tuba, respectively — draws heavily upon the Romantic tradition, but it never copies; rather, it is a reinvention of what Romanticism might have been, had it unfurled in the 21st century. A vibrant arc of suspense gives life to each individual work and, culminating in a grand finale, to the album itself.

  • Time is the Sea We Swim In

    Catalog #: NV6604

    Release Date: March 1, 2024

    21st Century
    Chamber
    Jazz
    Piano
    Saxophone
    String Quartet

    Following her first Navona Records release, IKARUS AMONG THE STARS, New York-based composer Debra Kaye has curated an ever-varying mix of chamber and solo pieces with TIME IS THE SEA WE SWIM IN. Kaye’s inspirations are seemingly endless, from the improvisatory piano solo At Liberty (1988) where Kaye returns to her roots as a performer, to the jazzy Colossus 1067 (2021) written to accompany Gus Foster’s time-distorting panoramic photograph taken on a roller coaster with a rotary camera; from current events to the poetry of Zen monks, European Romanticism to a philosophical, even metaphysical meditation on time and the creative process. Kaye’s eclectic collection showcases and reconciles heterogeneous influences by way of a sonic language that is wholly, uncompromisingly her own. Her confident embrace of diverse sounds and styles invite and challenge listeners to join her on this voyage of discovery and dip a toe into this sea that we all swim in.

  • Sonix and other Tonix

    Catalog #: NV6603

    Release Date: March 15, 2024

    21st Century
    Chamber
    Flute
    Percussion
    String Quartet

    SONIX AND OTHER TONIX is a collection of innovative chamber works from composer Jan Järvlepp. The title refers to his piece Sonix for Ónix, composed for the Ónix Ensamble of Mexico. It combines elements from his most popular chamber and orchestral works, Pierrot Solaire and Garbage Concerto, respectively. The album also features Trio No. 3, a three-movement work for violin, cello, and piano which protests the rise of the surveillance state. SONIX AND OTHER TONIX also includes Shinkansen, which takes listeners for a ride on a Japanese bullet train, and In Memoriam, written for the composer’s late brother. Spanning a diverse range of topics and influences, SONIX AND OTHER TONIX exemplifies the iconoclastic creativity for which Järvlepp is known.

  • Quadrants Vol. 5

    Catalog #: NV6602

    Release Date: March 15, 2024

    21st Century
    Chamber
    String Quartet

    The award-winning Benda Quartet assembles on QUADRANTS VOL. 5 to deliver a stunning, razor-sharp collection of contemporary string works. Composers Christopher J. Hoh, Ferdinando DeSena, Christopher Brakel, Michael Murray, and Paul Halley offer a wide range of sounds and emotions in this body of work, ranging from warm, elegant expressions to high-octane passages and more. This Navona Records release is also available as a visual album, filmed at the historic Dul Michal mine in Ostrava, CZ. Eloquent, precise, and hypnotic, QUADRANTS VOL. 5 is a crystal-clear reflection of the musical and technical heights of the string quartet genre.

  • Two by Three

    Catalog #: NV6601

    Release Date: February 2, 2024

    21st Century
    Chamber
    Solo Instrumental
    Flute
    Piano

    If there were two words to describe Nathan Froebe’s musical output, they would be: exuberant and ruminative. In fact, these two attributes might arrive at a tie on TWO BY THREE, a selection of energetic freetonal, programmatic pieces for a myriad of flutes and piano. The thoughtful nature of these works is apparent even in their respective titles: Meditation, Three Scenes for Wind and Hammer, and Essay for Piccolo, Piano, and Alto Flute, to name but a few. Meticulously composed by Froebe and impeccably performed by flutists Jessica Raposo and Mihoko Watanabe with pianist Michael Seregow, TWO BY THREE sweeps through the mind like a fresh breeze on a crisp April morning.

  • Celestial Voices

    Catalog #: NV6600

    Release Date: March 1, 2024

    21st Century
    Liturgical
    Vocal Music
    Voice

    Ethereal, uplifting, and deeply impactful throughout. The works on CELESTIAL VOICES check these boxes and more. Featuring sacred choral works from several contemporary composers, this offering from Navona Records is a musical exploration into the divine that’s ready to be experienced in both stereo and Dolby Atmos immersive audio formats. Modern harmonies and rhythmic freedom, new settings of famous hymns, fragments of plainchant that highlight contemporary topics, and more are expressed with clarity and spirit by The Kühn Choir of Prague in this release, who are joined by supportive instrumentalists at various points in the program.

  • Black is Beautiful

    Catalog #: NV6599

    Release Date: February 9, 2024

    21st Century
    Vocal Music
    Choir
    Orchestra

    BLACK IS BEAUTIFUL from Dr. Diane Retallack and The Eugene Concert Choir is an ode to hope in the face of injustice. This Navona Records release showcases music by Black composers that shed light on the Black experience including two choral masterworks: Seven Last Words of the Unarmed by Joel Thompson and the world premiere recording of Dr. Undine Smith Moore’s oratorio Scenes from the Life of a Martyr. Thompson’s composition is modeled after Haydn’s The Seven Last Words of Christ; in this work, Joel Thompson quotes the last words of seven unarmed African American men killed by police or authority figures. Moore’s oratorio depicts the life of Martin Luther King, Jr, from birth to carefree childhood, young love, a calling to amplify the voice of his people, the hatred he experienced for his commitment, the grief of his untimely death, and the power of his message. These works are joined by the world premiere of The Hymn! by Stacey V. Gibbs and an arrangement of Glory from the film Selma by Dr. Eugene Rogers.

  • By the Waters of Memory

    Catalog #: NV6598

    Release Date: February 2, 2024

    21st Century
    Chamber
    Solo Instrumental
    Cello
    Oboe
    Piano

    Lyricism and melody are often vainly sought in contemporary composition. American composer Richard Crosby goes against the grain on BY THE WATERS OF MEMORY, a selection of compositions so aesthetically sublime, yet so profound, one wonders if this is still music, or someone mesmerizingly peeling back the layers on existence itself. BY THE WATERS OF MEMORY features two scintillating chamber duos with piano – one a viola, the other a cello sonata – as well as a charming tetralogy of Latin dances for piano and oboe. But perhaps the greatest revelation arrives in the form of trenchantly beautiful solo piano pieces, which bear all the hallmarks of unadulterated classical-romantic genius. If Schubert had been an American, he would have sounded like this.

  • Out of the Ashes

    Catalog #: NV6597

    Release Date: January 5, 2024

    21st Century
    Folk Music
    Vocal Music
    Choir

    The highly lauded and honored USD Chamber Singers, directed by Dr. David Holdhusen, bear a message of resilience to Navona Records with their newest release OUT OF THE ASHES, a collection of beloved choral works given a refreshing new voice. Featuring choral favorites like Biebl’s Ave Maria, Hogan’s Ain’t That Good News, and Whitacre’s Sleep, the Chamber Singers, like a phoenix, paint a narrative of rising from the ashes after a time of destruction, rising on the wings of a song. The artists wish that these recordings would provide comfort and reassurance after times of struggle, and offer a modicum of hope to those still facing great challenges of faith and courage. The Chamber Singers have given a new life to treasured gems of the choral repertoire and portray a bright future for artists and listeners alike.

  • Sonix+

    Catalog #: NV6596

    Release Date: January 19, 2024

    21st Century
    Chamber
    Clarinet
    Flute
    Piano Trio

    SONIX+, a collection of new works from cellist and composer Jan Järvlepp, is some of his most creative and defiant. The title piece, composed for the Ónix Ensemble of Mexico, draws upon elements from Järvlepp’s renowned works with a hidden theme from the 1960s sprinkled within. Trio No. 3 incorporates a very different concept from 1960s culture: protest music. The piece cries out against the constant surveillance that takes place in modern life, from cameras on every street corner to keyword tracking on search engines. Järvlepp’s music is unrelenting, one-of-a-kind, and inspired — a well balanced blend of time-tested virtuosity spoken through modern themes.

  • Six Seasons

    Catalog #: NV6595

    Release Date: January 5, 2024

    21st Century
    Chamber
    Clarinet
    String Quartet

    Composer and clarinetist Angelique Poteat demonstrates the dynamic emotive range of her instrument through original chamber music on SIX SEASONS. The work is inspired by the six “growing seasons” described in Joshua McFadden’s cookbook of the same title. As the name suggests, the music also nods to Vivaldi’s The Four Seasons by beginning with early spring and journeying toward winter, symbolizing the arc of human life. A native of the Pacific Northwest, Poteat’s music reflects the natural beauty of her home and has been described as “engaging, restless” by The New York Times and “extremely accomplished and vividly picturesque” by The Seattle Times.