Catalog

CADENCE, the new vocal music compilation from Navona Records, offers a set of inspired, emotive premiere recordings by composers Christopher J. Hoh, David Kirtley, Joanne D. Carey, and Timothy Kramer in works juxtaposing the ethereal and the earthy, the diaphanous and the muscular, and the serene and the agile.

Composer Lawrence Ball has long been fascinated by the intersection of subjective human emotion and algorithmic mathematical objectivity.  In his 2012 Navona Records release METHOD MUSIC, produced by Pete Townshend of The Who and PARMA Recordings CEO Bob Lord, he took Townshend’s long-gestating concept of automatic musical portraiture first explored in LIFEHOUSE and WHO’S NEXT and turned it into reality, creating a system which could translate personal information and experiences into sound.

Pianist, chamber musician, and educator Cicilia Yudha presents her Navona Records release SELECTED PIANO WORKS BY ROBERT CASADESUS AND HENRI DUTILLEUX, featuring her expertise as a solo pianist, as well as the exploration of the compositions of Robert Casadesus. Yudha’s skillful approach is demonstrated in the opening piece, Sonata No. 3, Op. 44, which has an energetic and rhythmically exciting first movement followed by a vibrant second movement, which exhibits a slow and reflective texture.

Yuriy Bekker, violinist on Navona Records release TWENTIETH CENTURY DUOS, is joined by renowned pianist Andrew Armstrong in some of the most beautiful and rarely-performed works of the twentieth century by Jewish composers Erich Korngold and Aaron Copland. Bekker says of the album, “The idea for this project finally came to fruition with the help of the rare 1686 Ex-Nachez Stradivarius violin.  This is the first sound recording of this violin and I believe these particular selections by Korngold and Copland highlight its most magical qualities.”

Composer, 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.

Australian composer, music educator, and pianist Margaret Brandman presents her debut Navona release SENSATIONS, featuring several of her celebrated compositions, each one presenting a unique musical experience and sensation. The Moravian Philharmonic Orchestra skilfully performs the orchestral portion, opening with the joyful Love Brings Change (Adagio for Strings). Pianist Lucie Kaucká joins the orchestra for Lyric Fantasy, an emotional and accessible two-movement work with contrasting moods for piano and strings.

On his Navona Records release THREE PASTELS FOR PIANO & ORCHESTRA, composer Carl Vollrath presents his three piano concerti, written between 2012 and 2015. Representing some of his most recent work, these concerti are connected to each other thematically, and in a way portray a different hue of the same color.

Navona Records presents RIPPLES, a collection of contemporary works from composers Mathew Fuerst, Heath Mathews, Bill Pfaff, Sally Reid, and William Thomas McKinley, that showcase percussion alongside either a pianist, saxophonist, or chamber ensemble, exploring the textures and tonal colors possible within each instrument combination.

Celebrating their 25th-anniversary concert season in 2016, the San José Chamber Orchestra conducted by Maestra Barbara Day Turner, presents a commemorative collection of contemporary works on Navona Records, showcasing the ensemble’s commitment to new music as well as their stylistic versatility.

The regions of Austria and Hungary have a rich history of music, art, and culture, where composers such as Beethoven, Artur Schnabel, and Emanuel Moór, among many others, developed their craft and influenced the traditions of European art music. On his debut release on Navona Records, CELLO MUSIC FROM AUSTRIA-HUNGARY, cellist Sam Magill presents works by Beethoven, Schnabel, and Moór that not only expand the cello repertoire and illustrate the cellist’s virtuosity, technical aplomb, conviction, and expressiveness, but enrich our understanding of these composers, their music, and their heritage.

Navona Records presents FIGMENTS, a compilation of eclectic contemporary works for chamber ensemble that highlight the dramatic, the mysterious, and the inventive through diverse instrument combinations and use of extended techniques. The album features music by composers Mark Dal Porto, Richard Campanelli, David Nisbet Stewart, Paula Diehl, Jason R. Lovelace, and Mel Mobley.

For decades, John Rojak has been a staple in American brass music, performing with a number of chamber ensembles and orchestras such as American Brass Quintet, Cleveland Orchestra, the New York Philharmonic, and the Boston Symphony; in Broadway shows including Les Misérables and The Producers; in big bands of Mel Lewis, Bob Mintzer, and Gerry Mulligan; and contributing to the pedagogy of the bass trombone as a faculty member of several institutions, including The Juilliard School, The Hartt School, and Aspen Music Festival and School. Needless to say he has taken the bass trombone and its repertoire to new heights in the classical, contemporary, jazz, and commercial genres.

Considered by American Record Guide as a composer who “approaches his pieces with respect and care,” Carl Vollrath presents the second volume of his clarinet and piano works on Navona Records, LINGERING LONGINGS: MUSIC FOR CLARINET AND PIANO VOL. 2. Expanding upon the first release in this collection, PAST RECOLLECTIONS: MUSIC FOR CLARINET AND PIANO VOL. 1, the composer continues to celebrate past events through musical narratives, tenderly and radiantly performed by clarinetist Michael Norsworthy and pianist Yoko Hagino.

On her Navona Records release PERSONAE, pianist Beth Levin presents works from Frédéric Chopin (1810-1849), Anders Eliasson (1947-2013), and Robert Schumann (1810-1856) that highlight each composer’s unique voice and style. Praised by Jeremy Eichler of the New York Times for her “boldly inflected readings and impressive ability to convey emotion without exhibition,” Levin animates the personalities of each composer with aplomb, passion, and elegance.

Composer, pianist, teacher, poet, and writer, Robert Nathaniel Dett (1882-1943) is regarded as one of the most important musicians in American history, lauded in his lifetime as the first American composer to fuse African American folk idioms with the European art music tradition in a sophisticated way. On his debut album on Navona Records, MY CUP RUNNETH OVER, pianist Clipper Erickson presents the first complete collection of Dett’s piano works, a milestone for American music discography.

On their debut Navona Records release, KOSTOV-VALKOV DUO: TRANSCRIPTIONS AND PARAPHRASES FOR CELLO AND PIANO, the Kostov-Valkov Duo - cellist Lachezar Kostov and pianist Viktor Valkov - present a powerful and invigorating program, showcasing their virtuosity and superior technique with commanding performances of works by Franz Liszt, Buxton Orr, Bohuslav Martinů, and Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco.

The Spanish tradition of flamenco music, by way of Paco Peña and Paco de Lucia, has significantly influenced the classical music world. Now composer and pianist Lionel Sainsbury explores the fiery passion and harmonic tension of flamenco on his latest Navona Records release ANDALUSIAN FANTASY.

Don't mistake the inference in the title of Emmy Award-winning composer Bruce Babcock's multi-faceted new Navona Records album TIME, STILL - the music is serious and contemplative at points to be sure, but the effervescence of Babcock's metrically shifting style and sound percolates to the surface throughout.

On his debut Navona Records release, ALL THE WAY BACK, pianist and composer Vytautas Smetona presents a collection of keyboard repertoire that highlights his enthralling and committed interpretations of some of the great composers' masterworks as well as an example of his faculty as a cultivated and dynamic composer.

Navona Records' latest offering of chamber music ELEMENTS RISING highlights contemporary composers who re-imagine the building blocks of music, such as melody, harmony, rhythm, dynamics, and timbre, in innovative ways, applying them to a number of duo and ensemble settings.