Al Combate
Catalog #: NV5902
Release Date: February 1, 2013
BaroqueOrchestralVocal MusicOrchestraVoiceAL COMBATE, the debut release from the Chicago Arts Orchestra (Javier José Mendoza, Artistic Director), highlights New Spain as a mecca of baroque and galant music through a handpicked selection of works from two of eighteenth-century colonial Mexico's most prolific and influential composers, whose music explores the period's transatlantic cultural flow from Europe to New Spain: Ignacio Jerusalem, a master of the galant style who brought modern European styles and techniques across the Atlantic; and Santiago Billoni, whose harmonic experimentation and erudite voice helped shape late baroque repertoire.
Pacific Ridge
Catalog #: NV5898
Release Date: January 1, 2013
21st CenturyConcertosOrchestralOrchestraPercussionPianoSanta 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.
The Music of Sparky Davis
Catalog #: NV5897
Release Date: January 1, 2013
21st CenturyOrchestralSolo InstrumentalOrchestraPianoAbout 100 years ago, classical music made a jagged turn away from the harmonic structures that had comprised its underpinnings for several centuries. This departure was early-on dubbed atonalism, and opposed the functional harmony that prevailed during the great musical flourishing of the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries. Composer Sparky Davis, who takes a "modern, not modernistic" approach to writing his music, continues this forward movement, expanding the vocabulary of music to include non-traditional elements and adding to the functional uses of long-established note combinations.
Messenger
Catalog #: NV5896
Release Date: January 1, 2013
21st CenturyOrchestralElectroacousticOrchestraPianoComposer Jeffrey Stadelman's unusual, arresting, exacting musical voice has evolved over 25 years, amounting to a complex musical practice that suggests no obvious counterpart. MESSENGER, an all-Stadelman release on Navona, includes a variety of his orchestral, instrumental, and electroacoustic works.
Gallery
Catalog #: NV5893
Release Date: November 13, 2012
20th CenturyOrchestralStage WorksOrchestraGALLERY is a collection of works by composer Michael G. Cunningham, containing three of his narrative ballets and the Gastein Masterwork. The ballets Nyadina, based on a Balanchine film ballet; She, based on the 1887 Haggard novel; and Chrysalis at Mardi Gras, based on the Saint Joseph story resembling Cinderella contain a narrative, choreographic flow with emotional and fable-like undertones.
Convergence
Catalog #: NV5892
Release Date: November 1, 2012
20th CenturyConcertosOrchestralOrchestraPianoWind EnsembleObserving the landscape of contemporary classical, one might assume that the art music community has shifted its focus away from the melodic, harmonious, and accessible. CONVERGENCE, an album of works by David Nisbet Stewart and George Gershwin, presents just the opposite: imaginative, expressive works that appeal to performers and audiences alike.
The Last Musician of Ur
Catalog #: NV5891
Release Date: November 1, 2012
21st CenturyOrchestralOrchestraIn April 2003, the earliest stringed instrument ever found, the Gold Lyre of Ur, was damaged by looters at the Iraq Museum in Baghdad. In 2004, British harpist Andrew Lowings constructed an authentic and playable replica, and enlisted the help of composer Michael Mauldin to promote the project. Moved by the instrument's legacy and the narrative possibilities of the project, Mauldin composed The Last Musician of Ur for orchestra and harp, crafting a flowing narrative following the last musician to play the historic instrument as she is torn between inescapable destruction and the hope of timeless, international peace.
Of Birds and Lemons
Catalog #: NV5887
Release Date: October 1, 2012
21st CenturyOrchestralOrchestraWith 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.
Paradigms
Catalog #: NV5880
Release Date: August 1, 2012
21st CenturyConcertosOrchestralOboeOrchestraPARADIGMS 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.
The Conscious Sleepwalker
Catalog #: NV5870
Release Date: March 1, 2012
21st CenturyConcertosOrchestralOrchestraSaxophoneThrough his Argentinean tango-infused classical works, composer Alejandro Rutty has carved an original, unique niche in classical music, blending tango, electronic, and classical elements into a cohesive whole. On the multifarious THE CONSCIOUS SLEEPWALKER, his first album on Navona Records, Rutty presents works for saxophone quartet and orchestra that explore concepts ranging from explorations of tango within pop culture of the future to half-dreams versus fictional reality.
Polyhymnia
Catalog #: NV5867
Release Date: February 1, 2012
21st CenturyOrchestralVocal MusicChoirOrchestraString OrchestraWith 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.
Fine Music, Vol. 3
Catalog #: NV5868
Release Date: January 1, 2012
21st CenturyChamberOrchestralElectronicOrchestraPiano TrioFINE MUSIC, VOL. III is the third compilation of the Navona Records Fine Music digital series. This installment features the works of Lawrence Siegel, Sergio Cervetti, Tony Piccolo, Adrienne Albert, Daniel Perttu, Gerhard Stabler, Jane O'Leary, Jim Scully, Meira Warshauer, Piffaro, John Carollo, William Vollinger, Peter Van Zandt Lane, Lawrence Ball, and Benjamin Yusupov. This collection both highlights some of Navona's choicest tracks and offers a preview of things to come.
Fire & Time
Catalog #: NV5871
Release Date: May 1, 2012
21st CenturyOrchestralOrchestraWith FIRE & TIME, Navona presents a compilation by six American composers of orchestral works united by an expansive and sublime musical vision. With programmatic influences ranging from Jungian philosophy to musings on ancient Korean art to descriptions of contrasting mountain vistas, each piece on this album asks us to not only reflect on our collective past but our communal future as well.
Nazca
Catalog #: NV5872
Release Date: April 1, 2012
20th CenturyOrchestralVocal MusicOrchestraVoiceComposer Sergio Cervetti has cemented himself into the contemporary classical scene, earning notoriety for his ability to present orchestral, opera, chamber, vocal, and electronic under a single classical umbrella that is distinctly individualistic. With works lauded as "truly novel and genuinely intriguing" (Washington Post), "noteworthy in the sea of fluff that passes for electronic music" (Option Magazine), and "a listener's joy" (New York Times), Cervetti has proven himself a worthy contender in the world of contemporary classical.
Sound Spectrum
Catalog #: NV5862
Release Date: November 1, 2011
21st CenturyOrchestralOrchestraPianoVoiceSOUND SPECTRUM features works for piano, soprano, and orchestra by composer Allen Bonde. Bonde draws from his personal experiences and feelings to craft beautiful pieces with a wide range of styles: Fantasia for Piano and Orchestra, a cohesive work cast in traditional harmony; Three Elizabethan Songs and Three Elizabethan Songs Revisited, a set of works blending simplicity and sophistication; Symphony No. 1, a kaleidoscopic orchestral piece with astounding instrumental color; Rose Window, a musical representation of the breathtaking Rose Window at Mount Holyoke Chapel; Sonus I, a 12-tonebased and freely composed piece in variation form; Four Shakespeare Songs, a fresh take on the Bard's work stylistically reflective of the 1920s; You Were The One, based on the sensitive poetry of Mary Jo Salter; and Encore Blues, a one-take improvised celebration of the recording sessions. Often performing the works himself as pianist, and in collaboration with the "Bonde Family," his oeuvres provide warmth, intimacy and compositional diversity with each piece.
Diurnal Thoughts
Catalog #: NV5863
Release Date: September 1, 2011
21st CenturyConcertosOrchestralClarinetOrchestraDIURNAL THOUGHTS is a collection of four previously unreleased works for orchestra by composer Francis Fairman. Fairman, who was born into a prolifically musical family and began his studies at a very young age, is able to translate his vivid imagination and vision directly into his music. His compositional style and musical experience allow him to craft pieces that reflect their visual inspirations, as we hear in The Fox, Diurnal Thoughts, and New York Taxi.
Divergence
Catalog #: NV5858
Release Date: September 1, 2011
21st CenturyOrchestralOrchestraString OrchestraDIVERGENCE is a collection of violin concerti written by three living composers. These works by Nicholas Sackman, Scott Michal, and William Thomas McKinley follow the traditional frameworks of the concerto with the individual stylings and influences of each composer worked into each piece; Sackman’s Concertino for Violin and Orchestra features delicate melodies surrounded by punchy rhythms, Michal’s Encomiums pays homage to three great masters of counterpoint, and McKinley’s Concert Variations takes a Mozart-like theme and gives it a 20th century fantasy variation treatment.
Light and Shadow
Catalog #: NV5847
Release Date: April 1, 2011
21st CenturyOrchestralOrchestraLight and Shadow is an all-new collection of modern orchestral works from composers Adrienne Albert, Daniel Perttu, Rain Worthington, Rebecca Oswald, Russ Lombardi and Tadd Russo. The works on this disc range from a musical depiction of the imagery of war to the representation of the impressionistic logic of dreams to a bold, tonal piece inspired by a property dispute. With all tracks shorter than nine minutes, this collection offers a succinct and powerful view into the world of modern orchestral composition.
Living Breathing Earth
Catalog #: NV5842
Release Date: April 1, 2011
21st CenturyOrchestralOrchestraSymphony No. 1, Living Breathing Earth, inspired by the rhythms and shadings of the earth, represents our planet in its radiant fullness, pulsing with breath, and alive with all variety of creatures and plants living in symbiosis with each other. Tekeeyah (a call) is Warshauer's call for an awakening to our true essence as human beings.
Starry Night
Catalog #: NV5844
Release Date: March 1, 2011
21st CenturyChamberOrchestralClarinetOrchestraSaxophoneSTARRY NIGHT is the latest release from Hawaii-based composer John A. Carollo. This release features compositions that span a decade, including the concert band version of Transcendence in the Age of War, previously released on the Navona label. Carollo's skillful representations of fear, suffering and sadness, as well as enthusiasm and determination, are on full display as he takes us through the course of emotion. From orchestra pieces to works for saxophone quartet, Carollo is able to capture the essence of what it means to be human.