FIGMENTS NV6023

DAL PORTO • CAMPANELLI • STEWART • DIEHL • LOVELACE • MOBLEY

OVERVIEW

Navona Records presents FIGMENTS, a compilation of eclectic contemporary works for chamber ensemble that highlight the dramatic, the mysterious, and the inventive through diverse instrument combinations and use of extended techniques. The album features music by composers Mark Dal Porto, Richard Campanelli, David Nisbet Stewart, Paula Diehl, Jason R. Lovelace, and Mel Mobley.

Mark Dal Porto’s Exotic Animals Suite illustrates an array of wildlife, from the lively call of birds, to the slithering of snakes, to the power and agility of big cats. Sonata for Piano by Richard Campanelli is a balanced three-movement work that explores the colors and tonal possibilities of the piano, whose darker second movement is a nod to Bartók’s Night music. David Nisbet Stewart highlights the rich timbre and textures of the solo viola in his Fantasy, which glides along from slow to fast and back again with dramatic passages of perpetual motion and wide leaps across the instrument’s strings. Gusts by Paula Diehl is a window into the composer’s exploration of her own system of composition called Separation, which uses overlapping 4ths as the working intervals, gradually separating them in phases until total separation is achieved. Nocturne: Inversions by Jason Lovelace portrays the atmospheric event known as a temperature inversion, a reversal in temperature layers of the atmosphere, which culminates in a storm of meter shifts, dissonance, and thickening textures. Mel Mobley’s Covering combines the electric guitar, horn, and piano to create an integrated piece that bridges the gap between the contrasting forces of the guitar and horn, supported by the stability of the piano.

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HIGHLIGHTS

In 2015, Mark Dal Porto was awarded certificates of excellence in band, choral, and orchestral composition from The American Prize organization. He was also awarded first prize (from over 140 entries from around the world) in the CODA (College Orchestra Director’s Association) 2013 International Composition Contest for his orchestral work Song of Eternity, which is featured on the Navona compilation DANCES OF ETERNITY (2013)

Richard Campanelli has won several awards, include the Holtkamp Prize for new organ music, a Ludwig Vogelstein grant, yearly ASCAP awards, a Marimolin Prize for a new work for violin and marimba, a Charles Ives Scholarship and a Goddard Lieberson Fellowship from the American Academy of Arts & Letters, and several Michigan Council for the Arts grants

David Nisbet Stewart’s Fantasy for solo viola was premiered in 2015 and performed by violist Peter Sulski in Worcester MA. Stewart is a composer, pianist and organist, beginning his career in academia and migrating to computer technology in 1979. His work is featured on the Navona compilations CONVERGENCE (2012) and FOUNDATIONS (2014)

Paula Diehl’s music is written in a compositional system called Separation which she created in 1978 after her postgraduate studies at American University and Temple University, and has been developing since. The basic concept behind Separation is the gradual detachment of interlocking perfect 4th intervals through a series of phases. Her music is featured on the Navona compilations PARADIGMS (2012) and ELEMENTS RISING (2015), and CRIMSON & LACE (2015)

Jason Lovelace’s compositions have been broadcast internationally and featured in a variety of regional, national, and international concert venues. In June 2015, Lovelace performed the international premiere of Nocturne: Inversions at the Sibelius Academy in Helsinki as part of the 2015 College Music Society International Conference

In 2014, Mel Mobley received the distinction of Louisiana Music Teachers Association (LMTA) Commissioned Composer of the Year. Mobley is the head of music composition and theory at the University of Louisiana at Monroe where he currently holds the Biedenharn Endowed Professorship in Music

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