Emergence
Catalog #: NV6161
Release Date: May 11, 2018
21st CenturyChamberSolo InstrumentalChoirPianoVoiceComposer/arranger/lyricist Joanna Estelle presents EMERGENCE: a compilation of works produced under her personal philosophy that “quality music uplifts humankind.” The album includes a generous list of collaborators: John Gordon Armstrong (arranger), Laurence Ewashko (baritone), Morgan Strickland, Susan Elizabeth Brown and Laura Dziubaniuk (soprano), Brandon Wilkie and Roland Gjernes (cello), Frédéric Lacroix (piano), and two choral ensembles, Ewashko Singers and Capital Chamber Choir.
Emerge
Catalog #: NV5859
Release Date: September 1, 2011
21st CenturyChamberSolo InstrumentalLarge EnsemblePianoEMERGE is a two-disc album featuring the works of Boston-based composer Keith Kramer. Kramer's constant search for new modes of expression through music nestles itself into his music, and each piece represents another discovery in his search. His exploratory journey has helped him create a prolific catalog of music, ranging from the subtle and restrained to the ferocious and demanding.
Eclectic Sounds
Catalog #: NV6460
Release Date: October 28, 2022
ClassicalRomanticSolo InstrumentalPianoWhat do Beethoven, Bartók and Bulgaria's national composer Vladigerov have in common? This is the question posed by Bulgarian pianist Alexander Tchobanov on his new album ECLECTIC SOUNDS - and what appears to be a harmless question soon turns into a mighty quest.
E Pluribus Unum
Catalog #: NV6300
Release Date: August 28, 2020
21st CenturySolo InstrumentalPianoNavona Records presents E PLURIBUS UNUM, an album of solo piano works performed by internationally acclaimed pianist Liza Stepanova, praised by The New York Times for her “thoughtful musicality” and “fleet-fingered panache.” It features recordings of eight renowned composers including Lera Auerbach, Anna Clyne, Gabriela Lena Frank, Kamran Ince, Pablo Ortiz, and world premiere recordings by Chaya Czernowin, Badie Khaleghan, and Eun Young Lee.
Dis/entanglements
Catalog #: NV6562
Release Date: October 13, 2023
21st CenturySolo InstrumentalPianoRandy Bauer’s DIS/ENTANGLEMENTS is an album featuring two large-scale piano works written during pandemic-era isolation that explore the tumultuous emotions associated with the times. Piano Sonata No. 1: Above the River and Piano Sonata No. 2: Brighter Dreams express Bauer’s struggles with feelings of entanglement and his efforts to free himself from them through music. Composed sequentially, the two sonatas heard together suggest a movement from entrapment to deliverance. Bauer's works on DIS/ENTANGLEMENTS are deftly performed by the internationally-celebrated pianist Clipper Erickson. Featuring moments of stark tension, reassuring lyricism, and triumphant redemption, DIS/ENTANGLEMENTS resonates with anyone longing for greater freedom.
Direct Contact
Catalog #: NV6229
Release Date: May 24, 2019
20th Century21st CenturySolo InstrumentalPianoPianist Roberta Rust brings her own unique dynamism to the works of eight composers with whom she has had direct contact over the years. Dedicated to her late mother and step-daughter, this collection is as personal and touching as it is memorable for the broader audience.
Dark Clouds in Life
Catalog #: NV6082
Release Date: March 10, 2017
21st CenturyOrchestralSolo InstrumentalOrchestraPianoA persistent goal of Mark John McEncroe is to create compositions that elicit an emotional response, as is echoed in the titles of his works. This is particularly true of the Australian composer’s Navona debut DARK CLOUDS OF LIFE, a conceptual release focused on overcoming addiction and depression, challenges McEncroe has personally struggled with. His sessions in Ostrava, Czech Republic with the Janáček Philharmonic Orchestra and pianist Helen Kennedy produced a cornerstone suite and three addendums that capture the essence of the record’s stated purpose.
Cycles of The Moon
Catalog #: NV5928
Release Date: September 1, 2013
21st CenturyChamberSolo InstrumentalCelloPianoCYCLES OF THE MOON, the new release from composer Ayala Asherov, is a colorful and poignant cross-section of works from various cycles of the composer's life. As a native of Israel, Ms. Asherov's music is largely informed by Hebrew chamber music. The music is tonal and intended to be accessible, says Asherov, "I didn't want to write what I thought a listener would not want to hear. My guiding light-or should I say melody-is something one can hold on to while exercising the imagination."
Currents in Time
Catalog #: NV6443
Release Date: July 8, 2022
21st CenturySolo InstrumentalVocal MusicPianoViolaVoiceThere are great singers, and then there are great singers who break the mold, pushing both the musical and organizational boundaries of their craft. American mezzo-soprano Megan Ihnen impressively demonstrates her affiliation with the latter group on CURRENTS IN TIME, once more employing her formidable talents as both a 21st-century vocalist and impresaria to shine a light on a varied array of contemporary composers.
Conversing With Spirits
Catalog #: NV6540
Release Date: July 28, 2023
21st CenturyChamberSolo InstrumentalPercussionPianoSaxophoneFall 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.
Comme Bon Lui Semble
Catalog #: NV6560
Release Date: October 27, 2023
21st CenturyOrchestralSolo InstrumentalOrchestraPianoViolinComposer Sophie Dupuis presents dazzling, profoundly eclectic compositions inspired by visual art on COMME BON LUI SEMBLE. Dupuis' musical language is measured, almost minimalist, but the colors she weaves into bright tapestries of sound certainly aren't. Pop culture or high culture, she draws inspiration from numerous sources — leading to compositions that are at once highly abstract, yet highly descriptive. It's a tightrope to walk, and at dizzying heights, but thankfully, Dupuis is not susceptible to musical vertigo.
Clementi Grand
Catalog #: NV5966
Release Date: August 1, 2014
21st CenturySolo InstrumentalPianoWhat must it feel like to play an instrument that is one of seven known to exist in the world and is two hundred years old? Pianists Shuko Watanabe and Timothy Gaylard know this feeling, playing works written by Muzio Clementi (1752-1832) on a Clementi grand fortepiano in pieces on the Navona Records release, CLEMENTI GRAND.
Claviatures
Catalog #: NV5864
Release Date: October 1, 2011
21st CenturyChamberSolo InstrumentalClarinetPianoViolinCLAVIATURES is a collection of new works for piano and chamber ensemble from contemporary composers. These works by Asherov-Kalus, Scully, Tribble, Fletcher, Nagorcka, and Stölzel explore the notions of being human and observing the world around us with reflection, curiosity, and appreciation. This recording contains eight original and inspired pieces performed with talent and panache by musicians from around the world: pianists Karolina Rojahn, Lukáš Klánský, and Robert Pherigo; violinists Ondrej Lébr and Ann Marie-Brown; violist Neil Casey; clarinetist Doug Graham; flutist Lisa Hennessey; and cellist Lawrence Figg.
Cipher
Catalog #: NV5962
Release Date: July 1, 2014
21st CenturySolo InstrumentalPianoOftentimes in our technology-driven global society, words can become obscured in meanings and associations depending on how they are interpreted or translated. On the other hand, music in its abstraction often can prompt more concrete interpretations. Composer Michael J. Evans explores the relationships between words, music, and meaning on his latest release on Navona Records, CIPHER.
Cello Music From Austria-Hungary
Catalog #: NV6024
Release Date: February 12, 2016
ClassicalChamberSolo InstrumentalCelloPianoThe regions of Austria and Hungary have a rich history of music, art, and culture, where composers such as Beethoven, Artur Schnabel, and Emanuel Moór, among many others, developed their craft and influenced the traditions of European art music. On his debut release on Navona Records, CELLO MUSIC FROM AUSTRIA-HUNGARY, cellist Sam Magill presents works by Beethoven, Schnabel, and Moór that not only expand the cello repertoire and illustrate the cellist’s virtuosity, technical aplomb, conviction, and expressiveness, but enrich our understanding of these composers, their music, and their heritage.
Cascading into Reverie
Catalog #: NV5910
Release Date: May 1, 2013
21st CenturyOrchestralSolo InstrumentalPianoString OrchestraFrench composer Yves Ramette's (1921-2012) music is marked by its ability to broadcast "messages of the heart," offering unflinching and distinguished representations of emotion and experience using traditional forms. A student of Honegger and contemporary of Boulez, among others, Ramette's works draw from the rhythmic and harmonic elements of mid-20th-century France.
Capstone Re-release: Music for Keyboard Instruments
Catalog #: NV6104
Release Date: June 9, 2017
20th CenturySolo InstrumentalOrganPianoIn 2008, PARMA Recordings acquired Capstone Records, the highly respected New York-based classical label founded by composer Richard Brooks in 1986, with the intent of shepherding the company and its music into the digital era. This album was originally released on Capstone and is being re-released by PARMA Recording's Navona Records.
By the Waters of Memory
Catalog #: NV6598
Release Date: February 2, 2024
21st CenturyChamberSolo InstrumentalCelloOboePianoLyricism and melody are often vainly sought in contemporary composition. American composer Richard Crosby goes against the grain on BY THE WATERS OF MEMORY, a selection of compositions so aesthetically sublime, yet so profound, one wonders if this is still music, or someone mesmerizingly peeling back the layers on existence itself. BY THE WATERS OF MEMORY features two scintillating chamber duos with piano – one a viola, the other a cello sonata – as well as a charming tetralogy of Latin dances for piano and oboe. But perhaps the greatest revelation arrives in the form of trenchantly beautiful solo piano pieces, which bear all the hallmarks of unadulterated classical-romantic genius. If Schubert had been an American, he would have sounded like this.