For The Young Artist
Catalog #: NV5942
Release Date: January 1, 2014
21st CenturySolo InstrumentalPianoFOR THE YOUNG ARTIST, Michael Glenn Williams' debut on Navona Records, pursues the tradition of hearing a composer's works performed by a world-class musician. Sean Chen, a rising star pianist who had his 2013 break through winning the prestigious American Pianists Association DeHaan Classical Fellow Award and the Crystal Award at the Van Cliburn Piano Competition, performs the works of Williams.
Forest Whispers
Catalog #: NV5831
Release Date: July 1, 2010
21st CenturyChamberClarinetEast AsianString QuartetViolinForest Whispers features works by Marty Regan that combine Western classical with the instrumentation and theory of traditional Japanese music, where musical time relies on the natural patterns of human breath to create a free, airy rhythm. With instruments from the shakuhachi to the koto, Forest Whispers delivers classical music with a distinctively Japanese aesthetic.
Forever
Catalog #: NV6316
Release Date: October 23, 2020
21st CenturySolo InstrumentalPianoComposer and pianist Antonija Pacek impresses with FOREVER, an album of soulful, aesthetic piano music – in a minimalist style somewhere between classical and popular music. Pacek, who holds a degree in psychology, is no stranger to the conditio humana, and while the temperament of her pieces is distinctly melancholy, their gentle expressiveness spans the whole gamut of human emotions.
Forever Beeler
Catalog #: NV6085
Release Date: March 10, 2017
21st CenturyChamberSolo InstrumentalClarinetOboePianoFOREVER BEELER represents a sampling of composer Alan Beeler’s prolific output throughout his musical career, which is generally defined by his commitment to compositional craft and structural clarity. The works featured on this album also reveal a playfulness lying just under the surface of Beeler’s compositional perspective. This quality of Beeler’s music is most notable in the seven sonatas for piano, often accompanied by another instrument, included in FOREVER BEELER.
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.
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.
Four Elements
Catalog #: NV6580
Release Date: January 19, 2024
21st CenturyChamberString QuartetFOUR ELEMENTS from Thomas Cabaniss showcases the composer’s creative versatility developed over three decades collaborating across various artistic disciplines. Writing music for dance, theater, film, and the concert stage, Cabaniss incorporates elements from all of these forms in his works for string quartet. Many of the movements started out as portions of dance and theater works, while others were crafted from the start for concert audiences. Performed by the Charleston Symphony String Quartet, FOUR ELEMENTS presents Cabaniss’s String Quartets 1, 2, & 5 — representing the first half of his output in this musical form. Taken together, the works serve as a fitting reflection of his wide-ranging pursuits and passions.
Four Quartets of Songs & Arias
Catalog #: NV5936
Release Date: November 1, 2013
21st CenturyChamberVocal MusicPianoVoiceFOUR QUARTETS OF SONGS & ARIAS, the debut Navona release by composer Roger Bourland, takes us on a touching journey by way of works for voice (Juliana Gondek) and piano (William Lumpkin). The album features four song cycles, each a four song set depicting a range of emotion and feeling.
Four Sonatas for Flute & Piano
Catalog #: NV6611
Release Date: April 5, 2024
21st CenturyRomanticChamberFlutePianoVirtuoso 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 CenturyOperaOrchestraVoiceNavona 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.
Fred Broer
Catalog #: NV6042
Release Date: June 10, 2016
21st CenturyChamberSolo InstrumentalPianoString QuartetComposer, author, and educator Fred Broer presents his String Quartet No. 8, as well as four colorful piano works, on his Navona release FRED BROER: MUSIC FOR STRING QUARTET AND PIANO SOLO. Broer’s adventurous String Quartet No. 8 is performed masterfully by the New England String Quartet and is dedicated to the memory of his good friend Hilda Ayer.
French Connections
Catalog #: NV6389
Release Date: December 10, 2021
BaroqueSolo InstrumentalHarpsichordNavona Records presents FRENCH CONNECTIONS, a new album of French works for harpsichord performed by Jonathan Rhodes Lee. The pieces selected for this collection celebrate the small, tight-knit pantheon of 17th-century French harpsichordists who helped shape the instrument’s repertoire. While the total output of these composers would make for countless hours of listening, FRENCH CONNECTIONS offers a taste of this expansive body of work. Music by Louis Couperin (c. 1626-1661), François Couperin (1668-1733) and Antoine Forqueray (1672-1745) comes alive through masterful performances by Lee, with recordings engineered and mastered by multiple GRAMMY-winning classical music producer Brad Michel.
Fresh Dimensions
Catalog #: NV6026
Release Date: February 12, 2016
21st CenturyConcertosOrchestralOrchestraViolinThe modern romanticism of composer Craig Morris is one simultaneously deeply personal and broadly meaningful. His albums DREAMS (2011) and CIRCLE OF LOVE (2015), both on the Ravello Records label, in large part deal directly with musical representations of universal emotional states and concepts.
From the Valley of Baca
Catalog #: NV6208
Release Date: February 8, 2019
21st CenturyChamberSolo InstrumentalPianoViolinVoiceComposer David Carpenter’s PARMA debut, FROM THE VALLEY OF BACA, features three works that illustrate the expansive scope of his compositional style. From the lyrical Trio, to the powerfully poetic title work for baritone and piano, to the romantically-inclined Sonata, FROM THE VALLEY OF BACA demonstrates the composer’s ability to express his artistic vision in a wide variety of musical genres.
From Wilderness
Catalog #: NV6421
Release Date: April 22, 2022
21st CenturyVocal MusicChoirOrchestraSpanning landscapes from Mexico to Canada, the Pacific Crest Trail covers thousands of miles of natural beauty, creating a transformative journey captured in FROM WILDERNESS from Navona Records. Choral Arts Initiative, conducted by Brandon Elliott and joined by cellist Kevin Mills, paints these landscapes from composer Jeffrey Derus with vibrant color, with vocal soloists giving identities to the spirit animals one may encounter on the trail. A concert-length work and meditation, the listener will hear a wash of sounds that allow for introspective reflection on the sacredness of nature, the profound text, and themselves.
Fugitive Footsteps
Catalog #: NV6492
Release Date: March 10, 2023
21st CenturyChamberVocal MusicCelloClarinetPianoLaurence Sherr delves deep into the spirit of resilience with FUGITIVE FOOTSTEPS: REMEMBRANCE MUSIC. Not shying away from musically pointing to suffering and despair, Sherr paints a vivid picture of persecution, trauma, and survivor's guilt but also of silent and active opposition, hope, renewal, and the eventual overcoming of adversity. Through remembrance and tribute, these compositions unapologetically aim to tell stories of Holocaust resistance and survival, not only in concept but also in their individual tonal language: at all times fully conscious of their cultural roots, vast heritage, a sacrosanct sense of belonging, and the duty of defending these treasures. But perhaps, even more, these works reveal pathways to clearer, brighter horizons.
Full Fathom Five
Catalog #: NV5996
Release Date: April 14, 2015
21st CenturyChamberVocal MusicVoiceFULL FATHOM FIVE, the fifth offering in Navona Records' The Shakespeare Concerts Series, takes the story of The Tempest, from the shipwrecked crew and magical spirits to the imprisoned servants and their questions of identity, and presents a variety of works from the 18th to the 21st centuries that set texts and depict themes from Shakespeare's play.
Gallery
Catalog #: NV5893
Release Date: November 13, 2012
20th CenturyOrchestralStage WorksOrchestraGALLERY is a collection of works by composer Michael G. Cunningham, containing three of his narrative ballets and the Gastein Masterwork. The ballets Nyadina, based on a Balanchine film ballet; She, based on the 1887 Haggard novel; and Chrysalis at Mardi Gras, based on the Saint Joseph story resembling Cinderella contain a narrative, choreographic flow with emotional and fable-like undertones.
Games of the Night Wind
Catalog #: NV6630
Release Date: May 10, 2024
21st CenturySolo InstrumentalPianoDescribed by the Oskar Morawetz Award jurors as a “legend” of Canadian musicians, Christina Petrowska Quilico joins lauded composer and champion of new music David Jaeger on GAMES OF THE NIGHT WIND, a dreamy musical landscape premiering 12 of Jaeger’s original nocturnes in addition to seven 20th century solo piano works. Each nocturne invokes a different spirit of the night: deception, memory, redemption, realization, and many more, each brought to fruition by Petrowska Quilico’s evocative musicality. Sharp staccato and an increasingly startled momentum drives the image of an encounter with the shadows in Nocturne 11, The Alarm Bell, a weighty contrast to the deep rubato and heaving nostalgia in Nocturne 1, In Memory Of — yet both hail from the same thematic darkness that expands across the entirety of the album. These sensations are ever present in Tōru Takemitsu’s starry Les yeux clos, Alexandre Tansman’s complex and lyrical nocturnes, and two works by Górecki, whose Lullaby sings GAMES OF THE NIGHT WIND off to sleep. GAMES OF THE NIGHT WIND plays to the unfettered wildness of the night, a force of nature encapsulated in every aspect of Petrowska Quilico and Jaeger’s musical and poetic collaboration, an elegant exploration for the night owl in us all.