Heavy Pedal
Catalog #: NV5853
Release Date: July 1, 2011
21st CenturySolo InstrumentalOrganPianoHEAVY PEDAL is an all-organ disc featuring the compositions of Tadd Russo, Curt Cacioppo, Ron Nagorcka, Wilhelm Middleschulte, and Michael Summers performed by organists Michael Kraft, Robert Gallagher, David Scott Hamnes, Brink Bush, and Karel Martinek. As the title implies, the pieces on this disc are on the heavier side of classical music, reaching climaxes with real stopping power.
Heavy Pedal Vol. 2
Catalog #: NV6529
Release Date: June 9, 2023
21st CenturyChamberSolo InstrumentalOboeOrchestraOrganThe aptly-titled HEAVY PEDAL VOL. 2 from Navona Records is the second installment of an organ-centric series of albums. Featuring the music of composers Christopher Hoh, Deon Price, Richard E Brown, and John Rommereim, the collection lives up to its name; these organ works are some of the most powerful that classical music has to offer. From Hoh’s Concertino Corona, inspired by the hardships and seeds of hope from COVID-19, to Brown’s Six Chorale Preludes on Favorite Hymn Tunes, which were composed using Brown’s encyclopedic understanding of historical hymns, HEAVY PEDAL VOL. 2 brings the organ down from the choir loft to allow all listeners a greater appreciation of this incredibly dynamic instrument.
Hedgehog’s Home
Catalog #: NV6461
Release Date: November 11, 2022
21st CenturyOrchestralOrchestraNavona Records presents HEDGEHOG'S HOME, a classic tale centered on the importance of caring for our natural habitat. Based on the original children’s story by Bosnian Serb author Branko Ćopić, this adaptation for the Zagreb Philharmonic Orchestra was originally premiered in September 2019 at Zagreb’s Vatroslav Lisinski Hall under the baton of then maestro David Danzmayr. A time-tested narrative in an all new form, this presentation of Hedgehog’s Home serves as a gentle and artistically driven reminder not to take our respective abodes for granted.
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.
Hipster Zombies From Mars
Catalog #: NV6173
Release Date: July 13, 2018
21st CenturySolo InstrumentalPianoNicholas Vines presents HIPSTER ZOMBIES FROM MARS, his third PARMA Recordings album. This collection of three major piano works by Dr. Vines was recorded on location at Cornell University with artist Ryan MacEvoy McCullough at the piano. For all of the flash one might expect from the album title, Vines bypasses gimmickry in order to capture something sophisticated.
I Close My Eyes in Order to See
Catalog #: NV6182
Release Date: September 14, 2018
21st CenturyChamberSolo InstrumentalFlutePianoWith her Navona debut I CLOSE MY EYES IN ORDER TO SEE, accomplished Canadian flutist Sara Hahn demonstrates her exceptional sensitivity for emotional nuance coupled with great virtuosic capability, but most of all: the healing power of music itself. Hahn, currently the Principal Flutist for the Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra, is rightly known for her refined and beautiful tone, and I CLOSE MY EYES TO SEE indubitably attests to this. But extraordinarily, there is even more to Hahn's musicianship: An exquisite ability to get right into the heart of a composition.
I Give You My Home
Catalog #: NV6513
Release Date: March 10, 2023
21st CenturyOperaPercussionSaxophoneVoiceI GIVE YOU MY HOME is a site-specific chamber opera inspired by Rose Standish Nichols and the Nichols House Museum in Boston MA that premiered June 3, 2022. This elegant new opera paints a portrait of Rose, a professional Bostonian woman, and highlights her professional work as a landscape architect as well as her efforts to affect change through activism in the Women’s Peace Movement and Women’s Suffrage. Soprano Aliana de la Guardia portrays Rose in this opera, and is joined by saxophonist Philipp A. Stäudlin and percussionist Mike Williams.
I Love You Like Spain
Catalog #: NV6357
Release Date: July 23, 2021
21st CenturyChamberVocal MusicPianoVoiceMonika Gurak certainly is no ordinary songwriter: not just because of her academic background, but also because of her love of foreign cultures. Her linguistic fluency in English, Spanish, and Polish heavily influences her work on I LOVE YOU LIKE SPAIN from Navona Records: the songs are sung in English, but the music comes with a generous helping of both Iberian exoticism as well as Polish sensibility.
I Wanna Be Ready
Catalog #: NV6527
Release Date: June 9, 2023
21st CenturyLiturgicalVocal MusicPianoVoiceFew things have informed and inspired as much music as humanity's search for God. Acclaimed baritone, arranger, and conductor Courtney Carey explores the relation between the worldly and the divine on I WANNA BE READY, a set of 12 spirituals arranged for different instrumentations — and each piece packs a punch. Six of them are songs for a solo voice (soprano or baritone) and piano, and Carey, being a trained vocalist himself, deploys this setup to its fullest effect, allowing for powerful brilliance. The other half are choral pieces, which are furnished with extra layers of depth and vigor by the splendidly expressive Concert Chorale ensemble. Even individually, these spirituals would be remarkable; together, they are a tour de force.
Ice & Fire
Catalog #: NV5937
Release Date: November 1, 2013
21st CenturySolo InstrumentalPianoICE & FIRE, the debut Navona Records album by Stephen Scott, showcases a variety of works for bowed piano. The album features The Bowed Piano Ensemble, an experimental piano group based at Colorado College in Colorado Springs that was founded by Scott.
Ikarus Among the Stars
Catalog #: NV6521
Release Date: May 26, 2023
21st CenturyChamberClarinetPianoString QuartetThere are many composers who intertwine eclectic influences into one coherent picture, but few people do it as ambitiously and convincingly as New York City based composer Debra Kaye. On IKARUS AMONG THE STARS, she vibrantly explores themes both real and surreal, perpetual and fleeting, nonchalant, and profound. Kaye's sources of inspiration are unnumbered; it seems there is nothing which she cannot turn into a composition. The works presented (two of them multiple award winners) draw their inspiration from Spanish poetry, real-life tragedy, and from the pieces of fellow contemporary composers. All of these sources are woven together by Kaye's measured choice of tonality, and the resulting tapestry is remarkable.
Imaginary Symphony
Catalog #: NV5904
Release Date: March 1, 2013
21st CenturyChamberOrchestralChoirFluteOrchestraNew York-based Anthony Piccolo leads a vibrant and varied career as composer, choral director, pianist and conductor. Drawing on decades of performing and composing experience, he crafts clear and colorful scores in a variety of genres.
Imagining Worlds
Catalog #: NV6592
Release Date: January 5, 2024
21st CenturySolo InstrumentalViolinPraised for her “incisive technique and an exceptionally rich and beautiful tone,” violinist Wanchi Huang performs a diverse range of compositions written by living composers on IMAGINING WORLDS from Navona Records. Huang’s virtuosic performance takes listeners on a dynamic voyage through the elegant grandeur of the baroque era to the historic hilltops of Italy, passing through reflections on our darkest moments and soaring towards the brighter days that lie ahead. Featuring new music by composers Adolphus Hailstork, Jeffrey Mumford, John Corigliano, Judith Shatin, and Meira Warshauer, IMAGINING WORLDS is a stunning showcase of Huang’s artistry and the compelling voices in contemporary American music.
Impressions of Spain
Catalog #: NV6430
Release Date: May 20, 2022
21st CenturyChamberGuitarOn IMPRESSIONS OF SPAIN from Navona Records, the critically acclaimed guitar trio enchants and excites with their performance of Spanish-influenced works from master composers of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Arranged and adapted for guitar trio by Gregg Nestor, the unexplored repertoire of five composers cascades across guitar frets in this recording, communicating themes of love, poetry and literature, spanish dance, and the spirit of Spain itself through music. Experience the works of Isaac Albéniz, Maurice Ravel, Enrique Granados, Joaquín Turina, and Manuel de Falla through a new and virtuosic voice.
In Heaven
Catalog #: NV6228
Release Date: May 24, 2019
21st CenturyLiturgicalVocal MusicChoirOrganThe Jitro Czech Girls Choir, under the leadership of conductor and music director Jiří Skopal, presents yet another vivid exploration of the depths of traditional Czechoslovakian music on their fourth release with Navona, JITRO IN HEAVEN. The tone for the album is set by Liturgical Chants, five pieces which express the spiritual and musical code of European culture. These pieces are composed by Petr Eben, an icon of 20th-century Czech music.
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.
In Tandem
Catalog #: NV6227
Release Date: May 24, 2019
21st CenturyChamberSolo InstrumentalClarinetPianoViolinIntroducing the album is Lee Actor’s Duo for Violin and Cello. The track, which won the Eva Thompson Phillips Award for Composition in 1979, is a short, textured, and powerful piece. In ABA form, the energy of the stringed instruments swings like a parabola from the height of sharp, angular rhythms down into deep and gentle expressions and builds up to a sharp, explosive climax.
In Times Of Torment
Catalog #: NV6035
Release Date: April 8, 2016
21st CenturyChamberCelloString QuartetViolinIN TIMES OF TORMENT, from the late composer Yves Ramette (1921-2012), displays major themes from almost every single musical era. Composed from 1941-1944 in Paris during the Nazi occupation, the album presents a unique perspective from Ramette, breaking away from the virtuosic piano works found in his previous albums to showcase varying chamber ensembles. Although his sonatas were written for the virtuosic violin and cello, the piano continues to be highlighted throughout his pieces, making it more than an accompaniment, but rather a featured instrument.
In Your Head
Catalog #: NV6190
Release Date: October 12, 2018
20th Century21st CenturySolo InstrumentalPianoAcclaimed piano four-hand duo Dana Muller and Gary Steigerwalt come together once more for IN YOUR HEAD, a collection featuring the work of six composers that highlights both fresh compositional talents and earlier successful works. Each piece demonstrates the unique synergy between the two performers. With twice the hands, twice the talent, and twice the interpretation, the piano is pushed to dynamic and sonoric extremes.