Vespers
Catalog #: NV5809
Release Date: April 1, 2009
RenaissanceChamberLiturgicalVocal MusicChoirChicago's best-known early music ensemble The Newberry Consort exhilarates with VESPERS, a collection of dazzlingly original music for women’s voices. The composer? A mysterious early-17th-century Mexican named Juan de Lienas, whose style energetically oscillates between Renaissance and Baroque elements.
It Is Time
Catalog #: NV5845
Release Date: March 1, 2011
21st CenturyVocal MusicChoirIT IS TIME features the compositions of David Shapiro, Kile Smith, Paul Fowler, Frank Havroy, Erhard Karkoschka and Kristen Broberg based on the German-language poetry of Romanian poet Paul Celan. Celan's words are largely open to interpretation and lend themselves to musical adaptations; the composers on this disc adapt the words well, and vocal ensemble The Crossing, under conductor Donald Nally, performs them beautifully.
Polyhymnia
Catalog #: NV5867
Release Date: February 1, 2012
21st CenturyOrchestralVocal MusicChoirOrchestraString OrchestraWith works described as "an inspired creation" (Music & Vision), "original and quite brilliant" (Fanfare), and "immensely poetic" (Tempo), Jonathan Little has planted himself as a luminary contemporary composer. On POLYHYMNIA, his first release on Navona Records, Little is able to transform traditional influences into rich, intense, and finely structured music that lives up to his reputation.
Seeking & Finding
Catalog #: NV5877
Release Date: August 1, 2012
21st CenturyVocal MusicChoirNatural beauty, emotion, and enlightenment. These are but a few of the common threads of SEEKING & FINDING, an album of choral works by two composers whose pointed explorations of humanity resonate in perfect pitch.
Awakenings
Catalog #: NV5878
Release Date: July 1, 2012
21st CenturyVocal MusicChoirLarge EnsembleNavona Records is proud to present the debut commercial release from the critically acclaimed Coro Allegro, Boston's chorus for members and friends of the LGBT community. This album, AWAKENINGS, features two extraordinary works by composers from the Pioneer Valley region of Western Massachusetts: Shofar by Robert Stern, an intensely dramatic and deeply moving oratorio inspired by the four arresting calls of the shofar; and Why I Wake Early by Ronald Perera, with text drawn from the poetry of Mary Oliver.
In Paradisum
Catalog #: NV5890
Release Date: October 1, 2012
21st CenturyVocal MusicChoirIN PARADISUM is the second Navona release from Coro Allegro, Boston's chorus for members and friends of the LGBT community. This album features two works from acclaimed composer Patricia Van Ness: Requiem, a personal, intimate ritual of consolation reinforcing the presence of divine love; and The Voice of the Tenth Muse, a large, dramatic work based on the texts of Sappho.
Voices Of Earth And Air
Catalog #: NV5923
Release Date: July 30, 2013
21st CenturyVocal MusicChoirThe poet has long been considered a vehicle for expressing human thought and emotion through literary device, setting the seemingly indescribable to text, offering direction to the enamored and forlorn alike. The human voice adds a new element to the text, providing an additional level of complexity and expressiveness.
Foundations
Catalog #: NV5939
Release Date: February 1, 2014
21st CenturyLiturgicalOrchestralVocal MusicChoirOrchestraExcerpts from the Bible, text from the Middle Ages, and traditional instrumentation (organ, orchestral, and choral) form the basis of six composers' inspired works on FOUNDATIONS to create stirring, new contemporary classical music. By connecting to the roots of historical texts and musical conventions - in some cases the foundations of our collective cultures - these pieces present a modern spin on traditional materials, sounds, and forms.
Tetrahedron Dreams
Catalog #: NV5947
Release Date: April 1, 2014
21st CenturySolo InstrumentalVocal MusicChoirPianoDrawing from a diverse set of genres and stylistic sources including atonal, folk, chant, dance, and more, Alexandra Ottaway's solo Navona Records debut TETRAHEDRON DREAMS presents a singular and striking listening experience.
Treasures From the Archives
Catalog #: NV5970
Release Date: September 1, 2014
20th CenturyVocal MusicChoirTREASURES FROM THE ARCHIVES, composer Carol Barnett's debut solo release on Navona Records, presents shining choral arrangements and originals from the composer's diverse catalog as interpreted by several choral groups, which gives the pieces an added tonal quality and presence. Many of the featured works were arranged by Barnett for the Minnesota-based Dale Warland Singers during her nearly decade-long residency with the group.
Moonstrung Air
Catalog #: NV5989
Release Date: February 10, 2015
21st CenturyVocal MusicChoirThe human voice: A forceful yet delicate instrument. The weight of its expression can be as heavy as a ringing bell or as light as the whisper of an autumn breeze. Composer Gregory W. Brown presents a collection of his vocal and choral works on the Navona Records release MOONSTRUNG AIR, capturing the wonder of the human voice as our rooted connection with nature.
Requiem: For the Living
Catalog #: NV6009
Release Date: September 11, 2015
21st CenturyVocal MusicChoirOrchestraFrom Verdi and Mozart to Stravinsky and Britten, the requiem has been a musical tradition used by many composers to remind us of life's indeterminacy. American composer Arthur Gottschalk's momentous masterwork, REQUIEM: FOR THE LIVING, an 8-movement, 45 minute work for full orchestra, chorus, and four soloists, including tenor Alberto Mizrahi and Grammy-nominated soprano Lauren Snouffer, resigns the fear of uncertainty by celebrating the rich narrative of Western art and culture.
Stars & Distances
Catalog #: NV6011
Release Date: November 13, 2015
21st CenturyOrchestralVocal MusicChoirClarinetOrchestraThe most recent recording of music by internationally renowned and critically acclaimed composer, Fredrick Kaufman, is a mystical journey through Kaufman's compositional explorations of the unknown, the natural order, and universal human experience. The two feature works are world premieres of his atmospheric choral & instrumental pieces that depict the cosmos in Stars & Distances and Seven Sisters.
Wisdom-Love-Eternity
Catalog #: NV6027
Release Date: February 12, 2016
21st CenturyLiturgicalVocal MusicChoirOn his latest release on Navona Records, WISDOM-LOVE-ETERNITY, composer Michael G. Cunningham presents a collection of his choral works, performed by the Kühn Choir of Prague conducted by Marek Vorlíček, which explore the spiritual element of the human condition, addressing the uncertainty of death, the inexpressible emotion of love, and humans’ search for an understanding of God.
Laudato Si
Catalog #: NV6036
Release Date: April 8, 2016
BaroqueVocal MusicChoirOrganNavona records presents LAUDATO SI: IN THE SPIRIT OF ST. FRANCIS OF ASSISI, a tribute to the 13th century Italian friar and preacher. Beloved over the world for his charity, devotion to poverty, and delight in Creation, St. Francis portrays his love for the beautiful in his poetic writings. In this exquisitely crafted vocal-organ program soprano Charlene Canty, countertenor Andrey Nemzer, and organist Nicholas Will present a fresh musical take on the Franciscan poetic tradition with world premiere recordings of three contemporary settings of texts by (or attributed to) St. Francis written by the composer Eli Tamar. These works are complemented by a series of solos and duets from various settings of Stabat Mater from the Baroque period to the mid-twentieth century.
Separation
Catalog #: NV6044
Release Date: June 10, 2016
21st CenturyOrchestralVocal MusicChoirOrchestraThe clichéd trope of the isolated artist toiling over their work in a virtual vacuum, alone and against the trends of the day, is not a new one. But in the case of Paula Diehl, it is as true as it comes. It isn’t an easy task to be a composer, a job which (to paraphrase Aaron Copland) holds few material rewards, and often even fewer good notices in the paper the next morning – it requires an inner strength and conviction in order to persevere through the challenges, be they artistic, financial, or social.
The Vocal Music Of Alan Beeler
Catalog #: NV6049
Release Date: July 8, 2016
21st CenturyLiturgicalVocal MusicChoirVoiceThe music of Alan Beeler (1939-2016) is frequently a compact, tightly focused one, presenting sharp contrasts of color and mood in the context of clear, direct compositional structures. Although noticeably influenced by artistic movements in Europe and America during the first half of the 20th century, Beeler’s musical voice is an identifiable one – crisp, bold, and pointedly quirky.
Let Me Fly
Catalog #: NV6060
Release Date: October 14, 2016
21st CenturyVocal MusicChoirLET ME FLY showcases the extraordinary talents of the University of South Dakota Chamber Singers in a compilation of American choral music under the direction of Dr. David Holdhusen. The album, recorded from 2014 to 2016, primarily draws on two mainstays of contemporary American choral repertoire – traditional folk song and spiritual arrangements and new works featuring a lyrical, lush harmonic language.
The Stolen Child
Catalog #: NV6067
Release Date: January 13, 2017
21st CenturyVocal MusicChoirIn THE STOLEN CHILD, Scott Perkins builds vast and stunning worlds out of a handful of voices. Vibrant, facile, and confident, Perkins’ choir writing is state-of-the-art and makes a modern musical statement while retaining a clear attachment to choral music’s longstanding tradition. To this end, Perkins’ compositions seem to balance the fluid and direct expression of late Renaissance a cappella masterpieces, while also possessing a decidedly contemporary approach to timbre and texture.
Exultet Terra
Catalog #: NV6069
Release Date: January 13, 2017
21st CenturyLiturgicalVocal MusicChoirNavona Records welcomes Cappella Clausura, directed by Amelia LeClair, to the family with their new release of the choral works of Hilary Tann, entitled EXULTET TERRA. For the first half of the album, LeClair and Tann juxtapose Tann’s works for women’s voices, a cappella, with pieces by Hildegard von Bingen, in soaring arrangements by LeClair.