Catalog

Composer Garth Baxter calls his commitment to form and aesthetic "modern traditionalism." And indeed, his new album RESISTANCE may just offer the best of both worlds in one captivating experience. Each piece has certain features in common: they are immediately, intuitively accessible to the listening ear, and all of them draw upon Baxter's ability to evoke sincere emotions with every note.

RESOLVE, the latest release on Navona Records from two-time Grammy® Award-winning clarinetist Richard Stoltzman, showcases three Paul Hindemith clarinet-focused works, two of which are premiere recordings for Stoltzman.

Wong Hok-yeung opens the Hong Kong Composers’ Guild’s RESONATING COLOURS 5 with Night Poem, a composition for cello and piano. Rhapsodic and ambling, the piece conjures nightly thoughts, welling up and vanishing with lifelike authenticity. Chan Chin-ting features with two pieces for solo violin: Cross-Currents, an exploration of the violin's full tonal range, and Postcards, an assortment of, in the composer's words, "six miniatures/musical gifts," which, quite like the name suggests, can be played as standalone pieces, but also feature a common theme that unites them.

Navona Records is proud to present RESTLESS NATION: THE MUSIC OF ANDY TEIRSTEIN. A student of Leonard Bernstein and Henry Brant, Teirstein’s music has been described by The New York Times as “magically atmospheric” and “tumultuously exuberant,” with “shifts from dark, earthy urgency to floating purity.” Featuring master soloists Marco Ambrosini (nyckelharpa) and Yair Dalal (oud), this new collection takes inspiration from the composer’s many travels directing the global initiative Translucent Borders, with musical influences from Bedouin singing, Scandinavian folk music, and his roots as a folk fiddle and banjo player. Letter from Woody is an orchestral reimagining of a letter the iconic folk balladeer Woody Guthrie wrote to his lover and future wife, the dancer Marjorie Mazia, in the 1940s, with hints of Guthrie’s songs and an introduction for harmonica.

With its innumerable recordings by the greatest pianists in history, one would think the book has been written on Johann Sebastian Bach's timeless pianistic masterpiece, The Well-Tempered Clavier. Renowned Swedish-Ukrainian pianist Natalya Pasichnyk now adds her name and interpretation to this illustrious list with RETHINKING THE WELL-TEMPERED CLAVIER. Her intellectual yet spiritual take on the matter is likely to be exactly what the composer envisioned. Guided by Bach's assertion that music's ultimate purpose is to glorify God and rejuvenate the spirit, Pasichnyk explores the intersection between divine inspiration and human existence. The result is a veritable tour de force of strength and sensitivity; of rational perspicuity, yet with the most tender sentiment; of surging vigor and might, but also of nonchalant lightness. A triumph.

Highly-acclaimed, highly-prolific pianist Christina Petrowska Quilico embarks on a magnificent journey through time by exploring an entire century's worth of North American piano music. RETRO AMERICANA splendidly showcases the whole gamut of a long-neglected genre seldom heard in such magnificence.

RETROGRADE by Sirius Quartet is a collection of innovative string works from Mari Tamaki. Tamaki, a Japanese cellist, composer, performer, and producer, conjures up drama through intense dissonances and delicate tonal harmonies throughout. The result is elegant and dynamic, drawing on Tamaki’s classical, improvisational, and avant-garde influences. The album features works like parallel realities, an ode to a cross-dimensional world that quite possibly exists. It also includes sneak into the Q-city, named after a work by Japanese painter Iori Mamiya depicting a psychedelic journey into one’s own mind. Contrary to what its title suggests, RETROGRADE is forward-thinking and intellectually captivating.

Flutist Lindsey Goodman presents her second album, RETURNING TO HEIGHTS UNSEEN, the follow up studio recording to 2016’s REACH THROUGH THE SKY. Goodman is a budding composer’s dream -- interpreting new music with impeccable style and tenacity.

Pianist Fanya Lin's RHAPSODIC is a masterful exploration of two of the most iconic pieces in piano repertoire. With her deft touch and nuanced interpretation, Lin lends an entirely new dimension to George Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue and Rachmaninoff's Paganini Variations. From the opening notes of Gershwin's masterpiece, Lin's playing proves both powerful and sensitive, capturing the complex emotions of the iconic American composer with great vividness. Some musicians might be hard-pressed to switch seamlessly into the mind and heart of the great Russian, but Lin's virtuosity is on full display as she navigates the intricate variations with vigor and precision, effortlessly enticing the listener into their bittersweet, heady romance.

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.

On RISE: MUSIC IN TIMES OF UNCERTAINTY, composer David Colson employs conventional and innovative chamber combinations alike to express a wide array of emotional content. Drawing upon years of experience as a performer, conductor, and composer, his command over the music and ability to adapt is present on each piece. How We Change for brass quintet pays homage to a dear friend with quick-changing tempos and unequal phrases, which represent the flood of emotions caused by sudden loss. The Wind Is Rising, the Earth lets itself be inhaled for bassoon and percussion, simultaneously primitive and cosmic, calls for respect for the earth. The micro-concerto RISE for piano and percussion quartet highlights various percussion elements to emphasize the performers’ skill and versatility. Finally, Dionysian Mysteries, composed freeform with minimal methodology, allows the saxophone quartet to plumb the depths of their instruments’ capabilities to render raw, emotional sound.

 On RITORNELLO composer and pianist Curt Cacioppo revisits the beloved country of Italy, recalling places, friends, Italian tales, Don Giovanni, and more to create a detailed sonic story about his experiences and Italian heritage. 

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.

Navona Records is proud to present ROMANCE AL CAMPESINO PORTEÑO, an album threading saxophonist José Antonio Zayas Cabán’s childhood memories with music both old and new. The tunes of his childhood and his culture sonically surround a newly-composed piece, the GRAMMY®-nominated El País Invisible, that addresses Puerto Rico’s political status as a commonwealth of the United States Empire. Featuring Miguel Zenón, Ryan Smith, Casey Rafn, and Zayas Cabán himself, ROMANCE AL CAMPESINO PORTEÑO explores the textures of Puerto Rico and Latin America, and the sounds of both struggle and celebration. “ROMANCE AL CAMPESINO PORTEÑO is an artful scream into the void of forgetting,” says essayist Katheryn Lawson. “We hope you will listen. We hope you will remember.”

Everybody knows Rumpelstiltskin’s name, but what if there’s more to his story? On RUMPELSTILTSKIN, composer Marti Epstein reimagines the classic fairy tale as a sympathetic opera, transforming the titular character into a tragic figure to propose that villains are made, rather than born. Guerilla Opera, conducted by Jeffrey Means, brings the alternate version to life across six scenes, deftly conveying the emotions and motivations of each character as they interpret Epstein’s carefully crafted soundscapes of shifting harmonic palettes and interweaving rhythmic pulses.

The Slavic conception of time in music is notoriously generous, exuberant even, often expressed by endless heartfelt melodies, which allude to a “broad yearning Russian soul.” RUSSIAN PIANO GEMS introduces listeners to the rich tapestry of Russian classical piano music with all the emotional grandeur it entails. Renowned Russian-born, American pianist Elena Dorozhkina brings to life a selection of works by Mosolov, Glinka, Scriabin, Tchaikovsky, and Rachmaninoff with unwavering passion and technical virtuosity. Torrential cascades of thunderous chords alternate with lightning-fast runs, breathless silences intermingle with sweet vulnerability, exaltation and loss are but a hair’s breadth apart. The playing time of these individual pieces might not seem very Russian, but their emotional depth certainly is.

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.

From natural scenes of beauty to mystical dreamscapes and vivid characters of villainy, a dynamic assortment of music awaits in SANDMAN’S CASTLE from composer Vincent Ho. A compendium of uniquely-orchestrated and masterfully executed solo and duo works are brought to life from a roster of renowned performers: Vicky Chow, Susanne Ruberg-Gordon, Ben Reimer, Beth Root Sandvoss, and Evelyn Glennie, who serves as a listener’s guide on a mystical journey into the world of dreams in the albums titular track. Between explorations of uncharted territories with tam-tam and music boxes and thoughtful juxtapositions of the drumset with mainstays in classical music, Ho pulls out all of the stops with the renowned featured performers, and his dexterous compositional tool-kit throughout.

Saxophone Concerto is the latest release from renowned composer Lee Actor, featuring five compositions: Concerto for Alto Saxophone and Orchestra (2009), which exploits the considerable dramatic and expressive possibilities of the saxophone; Dance Rhapsody (2010) for orchestra, which consists of several strongly rhythmic dance sections interspersed with two slower, nonrhythmic interludes; Concerto for Horn and Orchestra (2007), a work of compact dimensions, consisting of three movements; Opening Remarks (2009), a brisk, upbeat, 6-minute work for orchestra designed as a concert opener; and Celebration Overture (2007), a joyous and invigorating piece with instrumentation similar to Beethoven's Ninth Symphony. Actor's music is filled with rhythmic drive and shows a superb ear for orchestral color, and he is able to create music that catches the ear and draws the listener into a world of emotion and drama.

Ivory keys worn by two centuries of passionate musicians tell a story of musical evolution on SCARLATTI SONATAS, an album of solo harpsichord sonatas by Domenico Scarlatti, Antonio Soler, and an unidentified composer. Performed today by pianist Charles Metz, these works were first adapted for performance on the pianoforte in 1791 by Muzio Clementi, who breathed new life into Scarlatti’s timeless work with marked dynamics, articulations, and more. While Metz’s choice of repertoire holds ample historical significance, so does the instrument he employs to perform them — an 1806 square piano built by Clementi himself.