Period: 20th Century

Navona Records is pleased to present David Holdhusen and the University of South Dakota Chamber Singers’ performance of the iconic America the Beautiful. Initially arranged by KJ Phillips to accompany a 2021 Veterans Day celebration, the patriotic work flourishes with modern compositional flair, and is accompanied by a visual presentation of the ensemble’s performance. Beginning with a solo line that builds in slow, unfurling intensity, Phillips’ America the Beautiful weaves through several dynamic planes before ascending to a bright, resonant, and cathartic summit, inspiring admiration and reverence for the land of the free.

ON AN OVERGROWN PATH from pianist Jennifer Elowsky-Fox features music by composers Leoš Janáček and Larry Thomas Bell. Janáček gives the album its title piece, a programmatic work that evokes the composer’s memories from early 20th century Moravia. The piano cycle, performed with masterful sensitivity by Elowsky-Fox, blends the eastern and western cultural influences of the region. Based on hymn tunes included in Bell’s A Hymnbook for Congregational Singing, op. 169, Bell’s Piano Sonata No. 5, A Landscape of Small Ruins, op. 166, was composed in 2020 specifically for Elowsky-Fox. Her performances have been described in print as “buoyant”, “fun” and “gorgeous in all respects,” all sentiments that resonate in this Navona Records release.