• Sublimitas

    Catalog #: NV6544

    Release Date: August 11, 2023

    21st Century
    Orchestral
    Orchestra

    Navona Records is proud to present SUBLIMITAS, a symphonic album bringing to life the posthumous works of composer Michael G. Cunningham. Performed by the Janáček Philharmonic Orchestra, Cunningham’s 5th and 6th Symphonies soar with spirited flair and clarity. These works are thoughtfully paired with his Mountain Poem, a jubilant and moving piece composed with musical peaks and valleys that simulate a thrilling adventure. As a composer whose works span 11 previous Navona Records releases, the works presented on SUBLIMITAS make for a delightful final parting gift from an artist who showed an unwavering dedication to sharing his music with the world.

  • Amass

    Amass

    Catalog #: NV6543

    Release Date: July 28, 2023

    21st Century
    Liturgical
    Vocal Music
    Choir

    GRAMMY-nominated conductor Eugene Rogers brings to life Jocelyn Hagen’s setting of the Roman Catholic Mass in AMASS. This work stands apart from the Mass settings of other composers who have practiced this centuries-old genre, including Johann Sebastian Bach and Franz Joseph Haydn. While the music relies on the traditional Mass structure, it incorporates the spiritual writings of a diverse group of thinkers, ranging from a Muslim woman writing in the sixth century to a German theologian tried as a heretic 500 years later. In this way, the music is less about a particular religion but instead reaches toward the ineffable.

  • Dimensions Vol. 5

    Dimensions Vol. 5

    Catalog #: NV6542

    Release Date: July 28, 2023

    21st Century
    Orchestral
    Orchestra

    Hot on the heels of its preceding installments, DIMENSIONS VOL. 5 from Navona Records highlights the works of seven celebrated composers. These orchestral pieces showcase a broad range of innovative compositional styles featuring traditional and modern influences, drawing inspiration from an opera about a mystical wolf, moments of uncertainty and reflection in life, the music of Handel, and traditional Latvian folk music, just to name a few. Leveraging musical passion and orchestral ferocity, DIMENSIONS VOL. 5 offers listeners a broad example of some of the most exciting work in contemporary orchestral music.

  • Conversing With Spirits

    Conversing With Spirits

    Catalog #: NV6540

    Release Date: July 28, 2023

    21st Century
    Chamber
    Solo Instrumental
    Percussion
    Piano
    Saxophone

    Fall immersed into a collection of innovative stories and sounds on David Colson’s CONVERSING WITH SPIRITS. Colson’s distinctive push-and-pull textures are both an inviting and invigorating in the aptly named Un raz-de-marée de terreur et de joie (A tidal wave of terror and of joy) for bari sax and marimba, a welcome that drifts into a call back to classical trumpet repertoire: the long lamentations and surges of havoc discovered within Duo for Trumpet and Piano. This being closely followed by Ghost Music, a virtuosic marimba solo featuring Matthew Coley, a composition most reminiscent of uncanny whisperings in shadowy atmospheres—no doubt with a touch of whimsy, and a whimsy that is no stranger to the nature of cats, or more specifically, Cat Tales, a touching tongue-in-cheek collection of saxophone and piano vignettes invoking the personality of eight cats familiar to Colson. The River within Us concludes the collection, an at-once bubbly and fluttering two-movement work featuring the Western Michigan University Percussion Ensemble. Treat yourself to CONVERSING WITH SPIRITS, and enjoy the endless surprises it has to offer.

  • Between the Andes & the Amazon

    Between the Andes & the Amazon

    Catalog #: NV6534

    Release Date: July 28, 2023

    21st Century
    Solo Instrumental
    Piano

    Latin America is renowned for its many dances – the tango, salsa, bachata, merengue, samba, to name but a few – and it's thus not surprising that the same rhythmic intricacy and emotive depth dwells in its piano music. Hong-Kong-born pianist and musicologist Po Sim Head presents two Latin American composers, the Peruvian Francisco Pulgar-Vidal as well as Ecuadorian Blanca Layana Gómez, and performs their rich works with great verve and precision. The pieces selected for BETWEEN THE ANDES & THE AMAZON are imbued with their composers' respective cultural heritage and eclectic style: blending influences of Peruvian folk music with atonality, Latin polyrhythms with European counterpoint, and musical forms such as the sonata with elements of local dance and song.

  • Ocean Calling

    Catalog #: NV6535

    Release Date: July 14, 2023

    21st Century
    Chamber
    Piano

    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.

  • A Phoenix Rising

    Catalog #: NV6532

    Release Date: July 14, 2023

    21st Century
    Romantic
    Chamber
    Vocal Music
    Piano
    Voice

    Tenor Brian Smith Walters is a force to be reckoned with — endowed with a dark, thundering timbre and magnificent, towering style, he is the embodiment of a Heldentenor. His first Navona Records release is a challenging cross-section of chansons and Lieder spanning five centuries, and Walters navigates them with stunning bravado. It doesn't matter whether he sings Purcell or Copland, Schubert or Saint Saens, Tchaikovsky or Barber, Wagner or Szymanowski – the energetic grip Walters has on every single piece is awe-inducing, every rendition buzzing with vibrance and profundity. Accompanied here by only the piano, there is only one word to describe the tenor and A PHOENIX RISING: intense.

  • Playing on the Edge 3

    Catalog #: NV6520

    Release Date: July 14, 2023

    21st Century
    Chamber
    String Quartet

    The Sirius Quartet returns with the long-anticipated PLAYING ON THE EDGE 3, adding to their ever-thrilling catalog with a fresh batch of imaginative compositions hailing from today’s composers. This installment of the acclaimed series dives into the concept of beauty, expressing itself in an extraordinary duality, with each work contributing its own unique take on the whole. PLAYING ON THE EDGE 3 offers up a vibrant and challenging selection, a verbose continuation of theme. From beginning to end, the Sirius Quartet proves that they’re not just playing on the edge — they’re living on it too.

  • Dillinger

    Catalog #: NV6525

    Release Date: June 23, 2023

    21st Century
    Vocal Music
    Large Ensemble
    Voice

    DILLINGER: AN AMERICAN ORATORIO from composer Matthew Heap in collaboration with librettist Darren Canady dramatizes the life of notorious Great Depression-era bank robber John Dillinger. Seen alternately as both an enemy of the state and a folk hero, Dillinger’s story is a fitting backdrop to Heap’s nuanced exploration of class warfare and the American Dream. The oratorio focuses on Dillinger’s final days and is presented in a quasi-oratorio setting, much like the opera-oratorio form that Stravinsky used in Oedipus Rex. Despite its historical source material, the music is more relevant than ever, bringing to life the struggles of Americans feeling caught between social strictures and larger economic forces.

  • Heavy Pedal Vol. 2

    Catalog #: NV6529

    Release Date: June 9, 2023

    21st Century
    Chamber
    Solo Instrumental
    Oboe
    Orchestra
    Organ

    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.

  • David Jaeger: Chamber Works for Viola

    Catalog #: NV6528

    Release Date: June 9, 2023

    21st Century
    Chamber
    Piano
    Viola
    Voice

    CHAMBER WORKS FOR VIOLA from composer David Jaeger gathers together some of Jaeger’s most defiantly creative compositions and demonstrates the vast possibilities of the viola and the chamber music genre as a whole. The album includes pieces like Diptych for viola and piano, lamenting at one moment and brazen the next. Six Miniatures on poems by David Cameron, for solo viola brings to life the poetic works of David Cameron, winner of the 2014 Hennessy Literary Award for Poetry. The album features the tasteful virtuosity of violist Carol Gimbel and pianist Cullan Bryant. Jaeger’s music will surely remind listeners—and perhaps even some other composers—of the rich tonal palate the viola offers.

  • I Wanna Be Ready

    Catalog #: NV6527

    Release Date: June 9, 2023

    21st Century
    Liturgical
    Vocal Music
    Piano
    Voice

    Few things have informed and inspired as much music as humanity's search for God. Acclaimed baritone, arranger, and conductor Courtney Carey explores the relation between the worldly and the divine on I WANNA BE READY, a set of 12 spirituals arranged for different instrumentations — and each piece packs a punch. Six of them are songs for a solo voice (soprano or baritone) and piano, and Carey, being a trained vocalist himself, deploys this setup to its fullest effect, allowing for powerful brilliance. The other half are choral pieces, which are furnished with extra layers of depth and vigor by the splendidly expressive Concert Chorale ensemble. Even individually, these spirituals would be remarkable; together, they are a tour de force.

  • A Fine Agitation

    Catalog #: NV6524

    Release Date: June 9, 2023

    21st Century
    Opera
    Stage Works
    Orchestra
    Voice

    Strong convictions make for strong emotion, and in Michael J. Evans' case, emotion transforms into operatic scenes. A FINE AGITATION is an eight-part stage work based on Susan B. Anthony's letters during her infamous voting trial, which sheds light on the beloved social reformer from a personal, intimate, and profoundly charming angle. Both biographies and political subjects are notoriously difficult to set to music without becoming either dry tragedies or kitschy pastiches, but Evans circumvents this pitfall with a compositional style that is subtly, tastefully shaded, and at times almost light-footed. It shows Anthony, an American social justice icon, from a perspective that might have been disregarded for the better part of a century – the perspective of being human.

  • Dancing in the Palm of God’s Hand

    Catalog #: NV6522

    Release Date: May 26, 2023

    21st Century
    Orchestral
    Solo Instrumental
    Orchestra
    Saxophone
    Voice

    DANCING IN THE PALM OF GOD'S HAND from J.A. Kawarsky and Navona Records isn't at all a typical worship album; rather, it's a cross section through Kawarsky's oeuvre that encompasses minimalist solo pieces, intimate chamber music, and grand orchestral works. The themes on this album are vast and sweeping, at once lavish and carefully measured, reflecting the great and the minute, like an interplay between human and God. It's an almost philosophical experience, and one needn't be religious to enjoy its uplifting qualities.

  • Ikarus Among the Stars

    Catalog #: NV6521

    Release Date: May 26, 2023

    21st Century
    Chamber
    Clarinet
    Piano
    String Quartet

    There are many composers who intertwine eclectic influences into one coherent picture, but few people do it as ambitiously and convincingly as New York City based composer Debra Kaye. On IKARUS AMONG THE STARS, she vibrantly explores themes both real and surreal, perpetual and fleeting, nonchalant, and profound. Kaye's sources of inspiration are unnumbered; it seems there is nothing which she cannot turn into a composition. The works presented (two of them multiple award winners) draw their inspiration from Spanish poetry, real-life tragedy, and from the pieces of fellow contemporary composers. All of these sources are woven together by Kaye's measured choice of tonality, and the resulting tapestry is remarkable.

  • Romance al Campesino Porteño

    Catalog #: NV6516

    Release Date: May 26, 2023

    20th Century
    21st Century
    Chamber
    Piano
    Saxophone

    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.”

  • Symphonic Chronicles Vol I

    Catalog #: NV6519

    Release Date: April 28, 2023

    21st Century
    Orchestral
    Orchestra
    Piano
    Violin

    SYMPHONIC CHRONICLES VOL I from Navona Records features the works of celebrated living composers from a wide variety of backgrounds and influences. Performed by the London Symphony Orchestra and Royal Scottish National Orchestra, the music touches on topics ranging from jazz to the COVID pandemic, racial injustice, and more. Steve Law’s melodic and rhythmic Piano Concerto draws inspiration from Gershwin, Rachmaninoff, and Prokofiev while assimilating the influences of jazz, pop, and minimalism. In Barbara Jazwinski’s Fantasy on Jazz, the composer meditates on the complex and ever-evolving music of New Orleans. Simon Andrews’ Interlude No. 3 from “The Scars On His Back” recounts the story of legendary Native American freedom fighter Po’pay, and the revolt against the Spanish colonists he helped inspire. These examples are just a taste of the evocative works found on SYMPHONIC CHRONICLES VOL I.

  • Titration

    Catalog #: NV6504

    Release Date: April 28, 2023

    21st Century
    Vocal Music
    Choir

    TITRATION: a term used in chemistry to describe the process where two reagents are mixed drop by drop to avoid the explosive reaction that would occur from pouring them together quickly. Titration is also used to describe a therapeutic process in which one approaches trauma very slowly, “drop by drop,” so as to avoid unnecessary distress, flooding and potential re-traumatization. No title could be better fitting for Shara Nova’s new cycle of healing songs, recorded by The Crossing with conductor Donald Nally. TITRATION examines the experience of our own bodies, the capacity of our nervous systems, and the quest to identify and embrace our most difficult feelings. Styles converge, warm sounds emerge and voices soar next to laughter, humming, and the energy of Shara’s Indie band roots, with songs deeply inspired by Resmaa Menakem’s Somatic Abolitionist body of work and his call for communal practice. TITRATION offers a glimpse into various healing modalities while extending a hand of self-awareness to listeners alike.

  • Tarot

    Catalog #: NV6502

    Release Date: April 28, 2023

    21st Century
    Chamber
    Vocal Music
    Piano
    Voice

    What do you get when you tailor both music and lyrics to a tenor of brilliant clarity? A profound, cerebral, sensuous and at times even mystical experience, as demonstrated by vocalist Timothy Stoddard on his riveting new album TAROT. Born out of a year-long, close-knit collaboration between Stoddard, pianist Ellen Fast, and a diverse assortment of composers and librettists, TAROT proves the Aristotelian assertion that the whole is even more than the sum of its parts. These scintillating new vocal compositions all touch upon the vast mysteries of the great unknown wherever it overlaps with the human condition – be it in love, in death or in the occult. TAROT conjures an enchanting, dizzying, dreamlike universe – and Stoddard’s crystal-clear tenor is the effervescent guide.

  • Madreperla

    Catalog #: NV6518

    Release Date: April 14, 2023

    21st Century
    Chamber
    Orchestral
    Accordion
    Orchestra

    The accordion surely is an evocative instrument, its mere timbre conjuring mellow images of the Italian Riviera or cobbled Parisian streets. One would expect it to be quite out of place in the relatively formal environment of the classical concert hall – and be sorely mistaken, as far as Richard Galliano is concerned. The versatile French composer and accordion virtuoso sets out to elegantly shatter expectations – and his new album MADREPERLA proves him right. MADREPERLA's brilliance stems not only from the sheer audacity of juxtaposing the accordion with a full orchestra, nor from the fact that it succeeds spectacularly in doing so. What's most intoxicating is Galliano's fusion of symphonic writing with eclectic styles of dance – the pavane, the mazurka, the milonga, the forró, the waltz – whose particular zest, allure and élan pour forth torrentially from these compositions. A triumph.