Catalog

10 concerts, 7 venues, 3 days. The inaugural PARMA Music Festival in 2013 featured more than 100 composers and performers in works for orchestra, chamber ensembles, solo instruments, and jazz groups, as well as improvised collaborations between indie rockers and classical instrumentalists. This release collects some of the finest performances from the Festival, as recorded by the PARMA Recordings production team.

Navona Records' new installment of the FINE MUSIC series presents a deep cross-sectionof the label's wide-ranging and provocative 2013/2014 release slate, featuring performances by the Grammy-nominated New York Polyphony, Ensemble Dal Niente, cellist Chris Wild, Grammy-winning clarinetist Richard Stoltzman, the Apollo Chamber Players, and many more in works by Hindemith, DeGaetano, Hodkinson, Ramette, Stevens, Williams, Bakker, Rotolo, Vines, Sternfeld-Dunn, Brown, Tarlow, and others.

Drawing 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.

The Navona Records debut from chamber-jazz group Douglas Detrick's AnyWhen Ensemble features composer and trumpeter Douglas Detrick's ten-movement suite, The Bright and Rushing World, commissioned by Chamber Music America. This work, which George Grella called "impressively clear, inventive and compelling," (Big City Blog, 2.4.14) is not a pastiche of styles, but a thoughtfully-constructed hybrid of music with a unique and personal sensibility inspired by sources as diverse as Duke Ellington, Gil Evans, Benjamin Britten and Igor Stravinsky.

POLARITIES, an album of new presentations in classical music, expresses the emotions, feelings, and scenes associated with opposites. The works on the album, by four composers, range from a piece for wind ensemble and the Chinese gaohu, to a piano sonata, a chamber work, and works for orchestra.

The music of Irish composer Gráinne Mulvey explores the juxtaposition of polar opposites, pitting the real against the synthetic in finely crafted and thought-provoking works. AKANOS, an all-Mulvey album on Navona Records, includes seven of her works.

Excerpts 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.

Journeys after..., the debut release on Navona Records by Welsh composer Brian Noyes, features two orchestral works that reference the life and works of John Clare-a Northamptonshire peasant-poet from the early 19th Century. Inspired by Clare's Journey Out of Essex - a poignant account of his escape from a mental asylum and his 80-mile walk home looking for his imaginary love, Noyes has sought to reflect the poet's real and illusionary worlds as depicted in his evocative text.

SCATTERING LIGHT, SCATTERING FLOWERS, the third release by composer Marty Regan in the Selected Works for Japanese Instruments series was recorded in Japan, and features large ensemble works for traditional Japanese instruments, including two concertos. Composed for female voice, shakuhachi, and the relatively rare 25-string koto, the title track is based on a deeply poetic text written by Japanese poet Haruka Nakanashi that echoes with references to traditional Japanese noh theater.

FOR 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.

ABHANDEN, Chicago based cellist Chris Wild's debut album on Navona Records, features six compositions for solo cello and small ensemble that stretch across multiple decades and concepts of style. Focusing on the unification of the diverse aesthetics of contemporary music, ABHANDEN seeks to demonstrate the shared ends of expression these six pieces exhibit.

ICE & 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.

FOUR 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.

THE FAIR OPHELIA, the second installment on Navona Records' The Shakespeare Concerts Series, features works by composer Joseph Summer that are inspired by Shakespeare's The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark! With Shakespeare's texts accompanied with music by Brahms, Strauss, Berlioz, Saint-Saëns, Schumann, and Joseph Summer, this album for vocal and chamber music consists of diverse settings that present the listener with an opportunity to hear Ophelia in a three dimensional perspective. Summer's works have been described as "[varying] in mood and compositional technique from piece to piece, but always beautifully expressive and deeply emotional" (Shakespeare Matters).

CYCLES OF THE MOON, the new release from composer Ayala Asherov, is a colorful and poignant cross-section of works from various cycles of the composer's life. As a native of Israel, Ms. Asherov's music is largely informed by Hebrew chamber music. The music is tonal and intended to be accessible, says Asherov, "I didn't want to write what I thought a listener would not want to hear. My guiding light-or should I say melody-is something one can hold on to while exercising the imagination."

The chamber ensemble format has historically been able to intimately interpret works with a variety of emotional nuance, and retains flexibility to perform music with myriad influences. ALLUSIONS, an album of evocative chamber works, showcases the expressive and interpretive abilities of contemporary composition and features works by five composers.

DEDICATION, a compilation of newly recorded works by composer Howard Quilling, features two sonatas for violin and piano, a suite for saxophone and wind orchestra, and a trio for violin, cello, and piano.

THE PARMA SESSIONS: KAROLINA ROJAHN presents a series of recordings featuring longtime PARMA collaborator and pianist Karolina Rojahn. Showcasing the artist's skill, adaptability, and dedication, this digital compilation features Rojahn performing works by a diverse set of composers with myriad influences and styles.

Since the late 1980s, Swiss Composer Schlumpf has been widely active in the borderlands between improvisation and composition. With STREAMS, the follow-up to his 2012 Navona Records release SUMMER CIRCLE, Schlumpf presents three concertos that are representative of a creative period in his career marked by the influence of minimalism and jazz, new tonal concepts, a strong emphasis on rhythm, and clear-cut formal designs.

Hailed as "convincing, emotional, passionate and vivid" (The Musical Review) and "destined to enter the ranks of the standard classical repertoire" (New York Times), Fredrick Kaufman resonates with worldwide audiences through impassioned and prolific compositions that go beyond mere interpretation. He thoroughly digests inspiration, internalizing and individualizing his ideas to create moving and impactful works that do more than simply relay a message. Kaufman's music captures feeling and emotion, reaching the listener with convincing sincerity.