Catalog

MUSICAL IMAGES FOR PIANO: REFLECTIONS AND RECOLLECTIONS VOL. 4 is the last installment of Mark John McEncroe’s REFLECTIONS AND RECOLLECTIONS series. While McEncroe often releases piano reductions of his larger scale pieces in an effort to make the most of each composition, the music featured on this album was crafted specifically for solo piano performance. As a retired chef, this Australian composer and classically-trained pianist is always thinking about his works in terms of ingredients; by carefully blending seemingly disparate “flavors,” he consistently concocts surprising and satisfying tonal creations. In this latest volume, McEncroe does just that, drawing on his own personal experiences to inform his music.

Composer, pianist, teacher, poet, and writer, Robert Nathaniel Dett (1882-1943) is regarded as one of the most important musicians in American history, lauded in his lifetime as the first American composer to fuse African American folk idioms with the European art music tradition in a sophisticated way. On his debut album on Navona Records, MY CUP RUNNETH OVER, pianist Clipper Erickson presents the first complete collection of Dett’s piano works, a milestone for American music discography.

Navona Records’ NOTTURNO: The Complete Nocturnes and Ballades of Chopin is a fresh look at some of the Polish composer’s most expressive works. The nocturnes and ballades are also some of Chopin’s most innovative works, displaying exciting advancements in harmony, rhythm, and form—all renewed in pianist Eliane Rodrigues’s nuanced, thoughtful performances, recorded in Sacilie, Italy’s acoustically advanced Fazioli Concert Hall.

Navona Records is proud to present NOVA, the 27th edition of the acclaimed Society of Composers, Inc. CD Series and the third SCI release on Navona. This entry in the series features chamber works by eight SCI composers.

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.

Composer Monica Houghton has a musical and academic resume that is made even more exceptional by her experiences as a true citizen of the world. Her travels around the globe have led her to incorporate non-Western instruments and musical practices into several of her compositions as well as to find inspiration trekking through Peru, or by exploring the remote and desolate areas of the American West. On CHAMBER WORKS, her debut on Navona Records, Houghton incorporates these influences along with many others to deliver eight stunning performances showcased in a variety of musical configurations.

On PARTS TO PLAY, critically acclaimed violinist Moonkyung Lee turns from the symphonic environment of the critically lauded label debut, TCHAIKOVSKY, on which she performed with the London Symphony Orchestra, to a more intimate setting, with only pianist Martha Locker as her partner on a selection of works that include both stunning solo performances and intricate yet simple duets.

The 28th edition of the Society of Composers, Inc. release series and the 4th on Navona Records, PENDULUM extrapolates and elaborates on several themes relating to variation, transformation, repetition, and more.

On her Navona Records release PERSONAE, pianist Beth Levin presents works from Frédéric Chopin (1810-1849), Anders Eliasson (1947-2013), and Robert Schumann (1810-1856) that highlight each composer’s unique voice and style. Praised by Jeremy Eichler of the New York Times for her “boldly inflected readings and impressive ability to convey emotion without exhibition,” Levin animates the personalities of each composer with aplomb, passion, and elegance.

Allison Brewster Franzetti makes a charming return with PIANISTA, a new collection of recordings that the artist herself describes as a “rich musical tapestry.” Centered around Carlos Franzetti’s Minotaur in the Labyrinth suite, and supplemented with works by Kapustin and Salgán, PIANISTA colors itself in Franzetti’s signature style, a combination of jazz and tango alongside an always enticing homage to Argentinian sound, both folk and urban. These elements come together to drape PIANISTA in playful rhythms, warm harmonies, and the certain éclat only the pianista herself can deliver.

No other musical form allows the composer as much liberty as the musical fantasy, or fantasia. Ukrainian-born pianist Pavel Gintov iconoclastically blends emotion and reason in his selection of PIANO FANTASIES ranging from the Baroque through to the late Romantic era.

Navona Records is proud to present PIANO SONATA #4, a solo piano work by composer Eric Price fusing 19th and 20th Century elements with authentic touches of personal compositional style. Performed by the critically-acclaimed pianist Anna Kislitsyna, this piece stays true to the long standing traditions of the form, amplified with Price’s unique cascading lines that resolve in savory moments of authentic beauty. From highly technical displays of pianistic and compositional prowess to triumphant passages and more, Piano Sonata No. 4 offers an enticing look at Price’s musical footprint and Kislitsyna’s stunning interpretation.

Acclaimed pianist Anna Kislitsyna stuns on PIANO SPECTRUMS, a profoundly emotive selection of aesthetic contemporary pieces – and a world-class interpretation ranging from tender filigree to unbridled, seething virtuosity. Ten contemporary composers share their works on this album with an eclectic program, both in terms of styles and subject matters. All the more outstanding, then, is how Kislitsyna scintillates with her wonderful, singing touch and musical sensitivity, effortlessly unifying ten unique voices into an album that is greater than the sum of its parts.

This latest record from Navona Records is a treasure trove of piano music by the late composer and pianist Sarah Feigin. Led by Carmela O’Flaherty, the composer’s daughter, the project consists nearly entirely of previously unperformed and unrecorded works for piano. Pianist Benjamin Goodman masterfully interprets her vibrant, virtuosic music.

Peter Dickson Lopez returns to Navona Records with his first solo release; PIECES FROM A DISTANT LAND, a touching solo piano memoriam to his late mother, who had once requested piano pieces for herself to play at church. A touching and emotionally prolific piece given a loving performance by Anna Kislitsyna, Lopez — an ever-experimental composer — channels the “Distant Land” of tonal music familiar to his childhood self and compositional roots, while still honoring the special and often haunting sound so intimate to his musical oeuvre. Those with an ear for the sonically experimental will instantly recognize Lopez’s salient touches while being treated to an especially graceful and compassionate tribute to the happy, hazy days of childhood, and the warm music that so often accompanies them.

Navona Records presents PINNACLE VOL. 2, a collection of contemporary chamber works by composers John A. Carollo, Edmund Cionek, Sarah Wallin Huff, Santiago Kodela, Adnan Marafi, Amintas Silva, Joseph T. Spaniola, and Kong-Yu Wong, that highlight the melodic, emotive, and dramatic styles offered by today’s chamber music. Throughout the album, the composers explore the cyclicity of life and nature.

Pianist Ian Gindes presents a captivating elucidation of Sergei Rachmaninoff's solo piano works on RACHMANINOFF, a new album of discerning artistry. With meticulous care and interpretive insight, Gindes navigates the rich tapestry of Rachmaninoff's compositions, peeling back the layers on their emotional depth and their technical intricacies. The Russian-American composer's signature confluence of opulent chromatic harmonies and classically informed structures is imbued with zest under Gindes' adept touch. Gindes finds an astute balance of lyricism and virtuosity, while his intuitive phrasing enhances the inherent narrative of each of the Preludes and Études-Tableaux. The album is rounded off by a fitting tribute, composed by Jerry Goldsmith and arranged by Jed Distler, honoring Rachmaninoff's influence on Hollywood and jazz.

RATIONAL PASSIONS, Greg Bowers' debut release on Navona Records, takes its listeners on a trip through the psychological world of music. Each piece explores the relationship between the notes played and the emotions experienced, suggesting that emotional meaning can be rationalized.

Acclaimed pianist Elaine Greenfield dazzles with originality, virtuosity and exuberant tone richness on her album RAVEL COMPARED on Navona Records. The French composer's works are brilliantly analyzed and brought to novel clarity with Greenfield's ingenious idea of recording the same repertoire twice, on two very different pianos – and juxtaposing them on this two-disc album. The first disc presents Ravel's music on an 1893 Erard from Paris, the same make and model as the composer's personal piano, from which Greenfield coaxes a mellow, full-bodied tone with an almost liquid quality. This rendition is contrasted with a second on an American Ivers & Pond parlor concert grand from 1917, brightly highlighting Ravel's idiosyncratic harmonies with modern, almost contemporary exactitude. Put together, RAVEL COMPARED palpably illustrates the depth of both Greenfield's skill as a performer as well as Ravel's aptitude as a composer – as lively and vivid as perhaps never before.

With two critically-lauded releases on Navona Records (NOTTURNO, performing works by Chopin, and a four-CD box set, BEETHOVEN – 8 CONCERTI) pianist Eliane Rodrigues returns with REFLETS showcasing the pianist’s nuanced and thoughtful performances of fifteen works by Claude Debussy. While it might seem that child prodigies are commonplace in the world of classical music, only a few truly make a lasting impact, one that lives on long after those prodigies have passed well into their adulthoods. Mozart began to play piano at the age of three, Beethoven did so at seven and a half, and Georges Bizet did so before his tenth birthday. Pianist Eliane Rodrigues, who began composing at three, played her first recital at five and first performed with an orchestra when she was just six years of age, can certainly be counted among those prodigious musicians, as evidenced on her latest recording, REFLETS.