Catalog

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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 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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

On BOWED COLORS 2, violist Brett Deubner tackles a vibrant collection of Bach-inspired compositions for the viola. A bonafide virtuoso of international acclaim, Deubner set his sights on the works of seven American composers, and the result is a dynamic album of showstoppers for the alto voice of the string family. Baroque structure unites with contemporary fervor in this program, and Deubner's solo viola (occasionally accompanied by piano) entwines both, brimming with vigor and precision.

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.”

Navona Records is proud to present LEGENDS AND LIGHT VOL. 3, an ambitious collection of new works for large ensemble performed by the Janáček Philharmonic Ostrava. Several modern composers assemble on this album to deliver new expressions in classical music, highlighting stark contrasts of darkness and light and the other-worldy experiences that charge our artistic spirit. Inspired by art, mystical experiences, and the wonders of our universe, this edition of the LEGENDS AND LIGHT series casts a serene spotlight on the compositional innovation and orchestral ferocity of today’s composers and performers, an exhilarating showcase of the current and exciting state of classical music.

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.

I GIVE YOU MY HOME is a site-specific chamber opera inspired by Rose Standish Nichols and the Nichols House Museum in Boston MA that premiered June 3, 2022. This elegant new opera paints a portrait of Rose, a professional Bostonian woman, and highlights her professional work as a landscape architect as well as her efforts to affect change through activism in the Women’s Peace Movement and Women’s Suffrage. Soprano Aliana de la Guardia portrays Rose in this opera, and is joined by saxophonist Philipp A. Stäudlin and percussionist Mike Williams.

Daniel Burwasser’s music has been praised as accessible, communicative, and imaginative, descriptors encapsulated in the recordings of FLIGHTS OF IMAGINATION, a comprehensive release including some of Burwasser’s most beloved works. Burwasser provides no shortage of musical variety; the childlike wonder of Catching Fireflies is paired with the rhythmic, jubilant, and occasionally mystical qualities of Whirlwind, Flux, and Puck’s Game, while A Well-Traveled Road is a tumultuous and lively musical journey through lush, overflowing fields of orchestration. There is undoubtedly something for every musical ear in the works of Daniel Burwasser, and in FLIGHTS OF IMAGINATION, listeners will be well-met in finding it.

If there is one thing that is important to Richard E Brown, it’s clarity; it would be impossible to listen to any of his compositions without finding one’s emotions immediately and intuitively seized, no explanations necessary. Brown’s music is at once neoclassical and aesthetic, and his selection of TRIOS & SONATINAS makes for a perfect introduction. Aforementioned clarity is also the secret ingredient which allows Brown to breezily and naturally unite polar opposites: the Western classical piano trio with Korean folk themes, the simple sonatina form with musical complexity, and the frail violin and resounding horn as equals in another trio. Simplicity is supposedly the ultimate form of sophistication, and TRIOS & SONATINAS makes a strong point indeed.

Following his 2022 release, STORIES OUT OF CHERRY STEMS, this latest collection of vocal music by Baltimore-based composer Peter Dayton reinforces his establishment as a mature and formidable talent in the world of art song. ALL IN THE SOUND captures the heart of the genre: duet between voice and accompaniment. Characteristically and integrally, Dayton’s songs exhibit internal compositional logics of pervasive rhythmic patterns and intervallic relationships that create music that still viscerally satisfies. The album takes listeners on a captivating journey through physical, emotional, and abstract imagery. Triumphantly, Dayton’s music realizes the poignancies possible in the duet that is art song.