Catalog

In MY SYMPHONIC POEMS, the two-disc album that is Mark John McEncroe’s fourth recording overall for Navona Records, the Australian composer explores worlds both internal and external. On each of the album’s ten tracks, McEncroe has crafted a musical painting, a work of art that describes, as it were, his reflections on the subject alluded to in its title.

NIGHT OF LIGHT is the latest CD from Cypriot composer Sophia Serghi featuring five of her works for orchestra and voice: Night of Light, a musical reaction to Easter in Manhattan and a document of the composer's spiritual growth; Serghi's earliest work for orchestra and voice, Cantus Integritatis, comprised of four introspective and meditative movements based on the composer's own Latin poetry; Full Moon Haiku, a collaboration with poet Nancy Schoenberger setting the mensal characteristics of the full moon to music; Ikon, inspired by an unusual Ikon in Paris; and Night of Light: Reprise.

On NO MORE WAR, composer and award-winning accordionist Semir “Sammy” Hasić shines a spotlight on the 1991 Battle of Vukovar, which plunged eastern Croatia into turmoil. Through the clever usage of dissonance, illogical harmonies, and polyrhythms, the poignant album highlights the aural terrors of a warzone, made all the more jarring by the timbre of the usually cheerful accordion. The message, however, is not all doom and gloom: melodious themes and accompaniment by members of the Philharmonic orchestra provide contrast to the horrors, highlighting the perseverance of the human spirit and how individuals can come together to find hope.

A primeval forest, unaltered by man and teeming with natural greens and ancient oaks, and its power struggle between chaos and order is unearthed in OERBOS from composer Peter Greve. His third volume of all original compositions, the composer offers a wide variety of works for solo, chamber, choral, and orchestral performers, along with a riveting narrative of forest life in the album's titular symphonic poem. Join the Janáček Philharmonic Ostrava as they guide you through a turbulent passage of music, beginning with a calm sunrise and ending with an ode to the unity of mankind and nature, a celebratory movement after a ravaging storm.

With OF BIRDS AND LEMONS, Navona Records presents the diverse orchestral works of two composers united by their affinity for energetic, stylistic, and rhythmic composition. José Elizondo and David Tanner, whose respective works simultaneously complement and challenge those of the other, share their varied backgrounds and experiences to create a glorious whole with international appeal.

Argentinian composer, conductor, and scholar Alicia Terzian’s new Navona release OFF THE EDGE is an incredible journey into the heart of the string orchestra. The four works on the album introduce listeners to Terzian’s captivating compositional perspective and enchanting treatment of this ensemble’s sonic potential. Her writing focuses heavily on the drama, nuance, and contrasts accessible through instrumental color, and OFF THE EDGE showcases numerous audacious textures involving the string orchestra, with different percussion instruments,chorus,soloists and voice.

Santa Barbara-based composer Emma Lou Diemer (b. 1927) is a fixture in the Californian classical music community, having received commissions and performances from orchestras and ensembles throughout the state and worked throughout her career to advance the musical community.

PARADIGMS explores the notion that music of varied influences, backgrounds, and techniques can be strung together to represent modern classical as a whole. With orchestral works that dive into the dramatic and expressive, ponder the impressionistic through textured and rhythmic motifs, and compare the bright with the chaotic, this album posits that music of all studies and methods of creation are pieces of a larger puzzle that shape the American contemporary soundscape.

On his latest Navona Records release, PARAGONIA, composer Michael G. Cunningham explores ways in which the orchestra can interact with itself on several levels. Counter Currents presents contrary phrases and themes simultaneously stated while TransActions portrays dimensions of density, emphasizing orchestral blur and presenting gestures and passages that prompt interplay between the sections of the orchestra.

Sergio Cervetti, born in Uruguay, immigrated to the United States in 1962 to study contemporary composition, and his work contains a certain cosmopolitan quality reflective of his past and present. Although essentially a minimalist since 1970, he has branched out to embrace and incorporate diverse elements from a variety of aesthetics. The versatile creator understands how to pull the virtually unimaginable from its metaphysical realm into the here and now, a sudden manifestation of spirituality transcending dissonance. Ever-present is the nexus of nature and science, of the mundane and the miraculous.

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.

14 concerts, 12 venues, 4 days. The 2014 PARMA Music Festival featured a diverse range of events, from concert performances of orchestra, chamber ensembles, solo instruments, and jazz groups, to an outdoor presentation of Prokofiev's Peter and the Wolf and panel discussions about music licensing and multimedia composition, as well as improvised collaborations between indie rockers and classical instrumentalists.

Though “passage” is a word of numerous meanings, they all point back to a singular idea – the transition between two disparate entities. Whether it’s a passage of prose which moves along a narrative, a physical passageway connecting two points, or the continuous passing of time, all these snapshots help define our crucial moments within life’s movements. This theme threads the works on PASSAGE, the latest orchestral compilation from Navona featuring compositions from Sergio Cervetti, Daniel Crozier, Craig Morris, and Betty Wishart.

Composer Michael Murray’s album PASSAGES brings the words of iconic 19th and 20th century poets to life through stirring music for solo soprano and instruments. Murray has selected poetry from the likes of Robert Louis Stevenson, William Butler Yeats, William Wordsworth, John Keats, and Walt Whitman, with poems detailing childhood adventure, hope, and tragedy. Celebrated soprano Genevieve Fulks performs throughout; most of the music heard on the album was written specifically with her voice in mind. Murray’s music has been lauded for its meticulously crafted yet ultimately approachable style. Through familiar themes and time-honored poetry, Murray invites listeners to engage with, and even be challenged by, this collection of thoughtful compositions.

In PASSAGES THROUGH TIME, composer Rain Worthington explores the mystery of instrumental music’s ability to communicate the universality of human experiences. She invites the listener into the realm of the nonverbal to reveal our primal commonality, directly touching the heart and soul with music that is delicate and subtle, yet powerful and transporting. Worthington’s music has been hailed as “a fusion of styles—ancient, medieval modality and sonorities, modernist minimalist ostinato, and classical” (IAWM Journal). Embark on a journey through the currents of Worthington’s musical streams and the emotional forces that drive her unique voice.

Composer Mark Dal Porto's award-winning, neo-Romantic Song of Eternity for Orchestra starts off THE MUSIC OF MARK DAL PORTO in epic fashion. If Mahler and Prokofiev had collaborated on a composition, it would probably have sounded a lot like this: pensive, evocative, and nostalgic. Song of Eternity describes the eternal renewal of nature with cinematic impact. It is inspired by an ancient Chinese poem, as is the next piece, I Seek Rest for My Lonely Heart for A-Cappella Choir. This work continues the subject of nature, albeit in a more individualized fashion, capturing the sentiment of a distressed soul in search of peace in a pastoral setting.

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.

From yin and yang to public debate, much in the world revolves around opposing forces. POLARITIES VOL. 2, an album of new presentations in classical music, documents the intricacies of these forces, expressing the emotions, sensations, and scenes associated with the extreme ends of conversation and change.

With works described as "an inspired creation" (Music & Vision), "original and quite brilliant" (Fanfare), and "immensely poetic" (Tempo), Jonathan Little has planted himself as a luminary contemporary composer. On POLYHYMNIA, his first release on Navona Records, Little is able to transform traditional influences into rich, intense, and finely structured music that lives up to his reputation.

Navona Records is proud to present PRISMA, a compilation featuring four contemporary composers from the United States and England including Lionel Sainsbury, Clive Muncaster, Patricia Julien, and J. A. Kawarsky. PRISMA spans the spectrum of unique styles of composition, from the grandiose and triumphant to the fragile and tender. This compilation captures a journey through colorful orchestral elements in a singular listening experience that builds into a thrilling sound.