Catalog

Ethereal, uplifting, and deeply impactful throughout. The works on CELESTIAL VOICES check these boxes and more. Featuring sacred choral works from several contemporary composers, this offering from Navona Records is a musical exploration into the divine that’s ready to be experienced in both stereo and Dolby Atmos immersive audio formats. Modern harmonies and rhythmic freedom, new settings of famous hymns, fragments of plainchant that highlight contemporary topics, and more are expressed with clarity and spirit by The Kühn Choir of Prague in this release, who are joined by supportive instrumentalists at various points in the program.

FOUR 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.

Featuring cellist Thomas Mesa and pianist Michelle Cann, OUR STORIES from Navona Records aims to raise the voices of composers and performers from backgrounds traditionally underrepresented in classical music. Made possible by PARMA Recordings and a Sphinx MPower Grant, this release musically conveys a diverse mixture of themes and topics, from the intricacies and curiosities of human communication to fear-inducing information prevalent in the media, reflections on the acceptance of life's inevitable changes and losses, and more. Dive in and explore the masterful contemporary works of Andrea Casarrubios, Carlos Carrillo, Kevin Day, Sebastian Quesada, and Mario Oyanadel.

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.

Navona Records is proud to present MUSIC FOR STRING QUARTET, the world premiere recording of renowned composer Leonard Bernstein's long-lost work. Composed by an 18-year-old Bernstein during his studies at Harvard, the piece has been steadfastly shepherded from its re-discovery to this historic release by former Boston Symphony Orchestra Librarian John Perkel, and is performed here by Lucia Lin, Natalie Rose Kress, Danny Kim, and Ronald Feldman. “Movement I” and the newly-discovered “Movement II,” which was found within the U.S Library of Congress, are accompanied here by the seldom-recorded duo piece Elegies for Violin and Viola by composer Aaron Copland, a musical mentor, collaborator, and dear friend of Bernstein’s.

OCEAN CALLING from composer Meira Warshauer is a moving trilogy for two pianos dedicated to the ocean. The three installments — “Waves and Currents,” “From the Depths,” and “The Giant Blue” — speak to the vast majesty of the aquatic world and the many challenges that face it. Innovative performance techniques coax unique sounds out of the instruments; a metal chain rustles on vibrating strings to mimic the white noise of breakers in “Waves and Currents,” while “From the Depths” utilizes coloristic “inside piano” techniques, and bowed tones recall sounds from the blue whale in "The Giant Blue." Against the backdrop of large-scale contaminations, overfishing, acidification, and rising temperatures, OCEAN CALLING is an impassioned plea on behalf of Earth’s greatest natural resource.

The 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.

Eight exceptional composers, eight premiere recordings with a legendary orchestra, and one spectacular soloist: LONDON CELLO CONNECTION is a captivating compendium of contemporary compositions by celebrated cellist Ovidiu Marinescu and the London Symphony Orchestra with conductor Miran Vaupotić. Marinescu’s emotive, lush sound and superb technical command provides the continuous thread throughout the program, from the elegant “Sarabande” by Marvin Lamb to Arthur Gottschalk’s regal “Brunetti Meditations” to the shimmering, pulsing “Soul Dance” of Diane Jones, connecting and contrasting each of these works and others by John Robertson, Katherine Price, Joanna Estelle, L Peter Deutsch, and Keith Kramer. Recorded in June 2022 at the LSO’s St. Luke’s Church, the historic site on London’s Old Street which dates to 1733 and was restored to become home to the orchestra’s recording, community, and music education programs.

DIMENSIONS VOL. 4 gathers together a diverse collection of works for large ensemble by six lauded contemporary composers. These powerful yet intimate creations expand the boundaries of traditional chamber music while preserving the unique timbre of each individual instrument. The collection includes works like Shallow Streams by Ashlee T Busch, in which quick-moving wind, string, and percussion lines dance over the calm “riverbed” of the piano. A Distant Place by James Lentini employs eight instruments including harp and guitar to portray the driving spirit that compels us to chase our dreams. Meanwhile, Piccola Serenata from composer Liova Bueno is a 21st-century take on a style of music composed and performed in Europe during the 17th and 18th centuries, intended as light entertainment at social gatherings. These are just a few examples of the sheer breadth of DIMENSIONS VOL. 4.

Navona Records and Australian composer Lee Bradshaw present THE TIES THAT BIND, a collection of chamber music for strings that reveal an explicit and emotionally-charged truth. Brought to life by Baiba Skide (violin), Ivan Vukčević (viola), and Harriet Krijgh (violoncello), the album features works that redefine the expressive possibilities of contemporary string playing; and in which the performers are compelled to delve deeply into their own artistry. Bradshaw’s sensuous and yet muscular compositional style displays a profound intimacy for his craft, which ultimately renders music of a rare and arresting beauty.

Navona Records presents SOUNDTRACK OF THE AMERICAN SOLDIER, an album of contemporary works for wind band performed by The United States Army Field Band. Led by Colonel Jim R Keene, the Army Field Band is the U.S. Army’s premier touring musical organization. In SOUNDTRACK OF THE AMERICAN SOLDIER, the Army Field Band presents music of classic American films and video games, and in doing so celebrates the stories they portray and the men and women who inspired them. Monitored and mixed in IMMERSIVE DOLBY ATMOS® (5.1.4), SURROUND (5.1), and STEREO, the album immerses the listener in a multi-dimensional soundscape that creates a deeply meaningful connection to the music and the stories it portrays.