• The Music of Sparky Davis

    Catalog #: NV5897

    Release Date: January 1, 2013

    21st Century
    Orchestral
    Solo Instrumental
    Orchestra
    Piano

    About 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 Century
    Orchestral
    Electroacoustic
    Orchestra
    Piano

    Composer 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.

  • Dimensions

    Catalog #: NV5895

    Release Date: November 1, 2012

    21st Century
    Orchestral
    String Orchestra

    Throughout time, humankind has sought to provide explanation and justification for the pains, joys, and passions of life. With DIMENSIONS, Navona presents a collection of string orchestra works from seven composers (Gregory Hutter, Louis Babin, Reynard Burns, Andrew March, Claude Debussy, Rudy Kronfuss, Daniel Burwasser), whose music captures the fluidity of time and emotion and illustrates the impact of past experiences on the present and future.

  • Gallery

    Catalog #: NV5893

    Release Date: November 13, 2012

    20th Century
    Orchestral
    Stage Works
    Orchestra

    GALLERY 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 Century
    Concertos
    Orchestral
    Orchestra
    Piano
    Wind Ensemble

    Observing 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 Century
    Orchestral
    Orchestra

    In 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 Century
    Orchestral
    Orchestra

    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.

  • Causal Dualism

    Catalog #: NV5886

    Release Date: October 1, 2012

    21st Century
    Chamber
    Orchestral
    Saxophone
    String Orchestra
    Trombone

    CAUSAL DUALISM, Keith Kramer's second full-length release on Navona, is a celebration of dichotomy and relationships between all things. Duality, for soprano, saxophone, bass trombone, and string quartet, explores the interaction and relationships of the ensemble; Causality represents the string orchestra's journey of expression and highlights the action and reaction that permeates through all events; Flame of Attention, for soprano saxophone, the beginning of a long-term collaboration between the composer and Gottfried Stoger.

  • Paradigms

    Catalog #: NV5880

    Release Date: August 1, 2012

    21st Century
    Concertos
    Orchestral
    Oboe
    Orchestra

    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.

  • Night of Light

    Catalog #: NV5866

    Release Date: April 1, 2012

    21st Century
    Orchestral
    Vocal Music
    String Orchestra
    Voice

    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.

  • The Conscious Sleepwalker

    Catalog #: NV5870

    Release Date: March 1, 2012

    21st Century
    Concertos
    Orchestral
    Orchestra
    Saxophone

    Through 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 Century
    Orchestral
    Vocal Music
    Choir
    Orchestra
    String Orchestra

    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.

  • Fine Music, Vol. 3

    Catalog #: NV5868

    Release Date: January 1, 2012

    21st Century
    Chamber
    Orchestral
    Electronic
    Orchestra
    Piano Trio

    FINE 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.

  • Method Music

    Catalog #: NV5860

    Release Date: January 1, 2012

    21st Century
    Orchestral
    Electronic
    Percussion

    Meditative yet propulsive. Structured yet sprawling. Gossamer yet muscular. Inspired yet meticulously constructed. METHOD MUSIC by Lawrence Ball is all of these and more, a double album of highly adventurous electronic music by a master innovator of algorithmic composition.

  • Fire & Time

    Catalog #: NV5871

    Release Date: May 1, 2012

    21st Century
    Orchestral
    Orchestra

    With 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 Century
    Orchestral
    Vocal Music
    Orchestra
    Voice

    Composer 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 Century
    Orchestral
    Orchestra
    Piano
    Voice

    SOUND 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 Century
    Concertos
    Orchestral
    Clarinet
    Orchestra

    DIURNAL 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 Century
    Orchestral
    Orchestra
    String Orchestra

    DIVERGENCE 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.

  • Fine Music, Vol. 2

    Catalog #: NV5851

    Release Date: May 1, 2011

    Orchestral
    Solo Instrumental
    Cello
    Piano Trio
    String Orchestra

    FINE MUSIC, VOL. II is the second compilation of the Navona Records Fine Music digital series. This installment features the works of Marinescu, Barber, Evans, Elizondo, Zaimont, Nagorcka, Hofmeyr, Wilenski, Stölzel, Bakker and Sackman. This collection both highlights some of Navona's choicest tracks and offers a preview of things to come.