Genre: Chamber

Lauded cellist Emily Mantone is accompanied by Umi Garrett on BEETHOVEN: THE COMPLETE CELLO SONATAS, working in tandem to bring a new and distinctive tone to the five sonatas weaving through the lifetime of the great composer.

The cello-piano duo is justly hailed for its tremendous expressiveness. Cellist Juliana Soltis and pianist Ruoting Li remarkably demonstrate this setup's emotive power on AMERICAN WOMAN while championing a noble cause — highlighting underrepresented women composers. Featuring works by Mary Howe, Amy Beach, Margaret Bonds, Helen Crane, Dorothy Rudd Moore, and Florence Price, AMERICAN WOMAN sheds light on a treasure trove of rarely heard gems of cello-piano literature. The general tone is sweeping, romantic, expressive, at times fierce and energetic, then again tender and delicate. Soltis and Li show extraordinary ability not only in bringing out the unique style of each composer, but also in uniting them all in a great artistic effort.

Eric Schultz’s masterful clarinet playing speaks in new and known tongues on POLYGLOT, a concept album celebrating music as a language of cultural identity and the self. A strong advocate of living composers, Schultz opens with an engrossing performance of Iván Enrique Rodríguez’s Sonata Santera, exploring the development and evolution of three Caribbean Santeria rituals. Schultz captures the enchanting, mystical nature of the rituals between the rhythmic, driving movements, occasionally accompanied by percussive elements.  Schultz follows with Críptico no. 9: DAVЯTHAN, an interpretive piece that centralizes language and text-setting at the core of its composition. Shortly followed is Johnny Navarro’s romantic Danzón, a nostalgic work punctuated by fleeting moments of sensuality. The same intimacy is carried into Chiayu Hsu’s Summer Night in a Deep Valley, showcasing meditative episodes on the natural beauty expressed in Guo Xi’s Chinese landscape paintings. Likewise, Gabriel Bouche Caro’s Escenas explores a meditation on self-identity and its existence as a product of culture, the clarinet never languishing in melancholic passages, but always remaining reflective and curious. POLYGLOT culminates with the Brahms Trio, Op. 114, a composition inspired by the clarinet playing of friend Richard Mühlfeld, an inspiration so strong it served to pull the composer from retirement. To Schultz, a quarterfinalist for the 2025 GRAMMY® Music Educator of the Year, music is a hallmark of metamorphosis that drives cultural change across history, the performer and composer working in tandem to create something inspired and new — speaking each other’s language, you might say.

Fairy tales have deeply and consistently fascinated humanity throughout the centuries. Enter NEW ENCHANTMENTS, bassoonist Cornelia Sommer's exploration of magical archetypes that features music by living composers along with new arrangements by Sommer herself across six world premiere recordings. Sommer has also written a prize-winning dissertation on the subject of fairy tales in music, adding further depth to this performance that showcases her musical virtuosity, great feeling for nuance, lyrical storytelling, and profound expertise to illuminate every last detail. Enriching and engrossing, this album could not be more aptly titled.

The singing quality of string instruments ties together SONGS FOR A NEW CENTURY, a program featuring both world premiere recordings of new music commissioned for the artists and world premiere recordings of masterpieces by Mendelssohn. The program opens with a set of Mendelssohn’s Songs Without Words, beginning with the Opus 109 written by the composer for cello and piano. It continues with a set of arrangements for cello and piano, some recorded for the first time, by the 19th century cellist Alfredo Piatti, a personal friend of Mendelssohn’s upon whose cello Jonathan Miller plays. Gabriela Lena Frank’s Operetta for violin and cello, the composer writes, expands upon Mendelssohn’s concept of the “song without words,” creating opera without words that evokes scenes and characters through singing music for the duo of violin (Lucia Lin) and cello. Scott Wheeler’s second cello sonata, Songs Without Words, was inspired by Miller’s singing cello tone. Finally, Judith Weir’s Three Chorales for cello and piano meditate on religious poetry, departing from hymn texts –– and in the third Chorale, a melody from Hildegard of Bingen –– in a triptych that evokes the human condition.

Virtuoso Linda Wiley performs four flute sonatas from 19th and 20th century composers on FOUR SONATAS FOR FLUTE AND PIANO. The album fulfills her aspiration to record pieces that are both challenging and also personally meaningful to her. These include Sonata For Flute And Piano by Francis Poulenc, Sonate Pour Flûte Et Piano by Jindřich Feld, Sonata In A Major by César Franck, and Recuerdos De Mexico, Sonata for Flute and Piano by Arthur Gottschalk. Many of the works share a connection to legendary French flutist Jean-Pierre Rampal; Wiley’s flute mentor Jan Cole studied under Rampal for five years, and Wiley is proud to carry on her musical lineage in this Navona Records release.

Tenor Brian Smith Walters is a force to be reckoned with — endowed with a dark, thundering timbre and magnificent, towering style, he is the embodiment of a Heldentenor. His first Navona Records release is a challenging cross-section of chansons and Lieder spanning five centuries, and Walters navigates them with stunning bravado. It doesn't matter whether he sings Purcell or Copland, Schubert or Saint Saens, Tchaikovsky or Barber, Wagner or Szymanowski – the energetic grip Walters has on every single piece is awe-inducing, every rendition buzzing with vibrance and profundity. Accompanied here by only the piano, there is only one word to describe the tenor and A PHOENIX RISING: intense.

Véronique Mathieu and Stephanie Chua present INVOCATION, a collection of works for violin and piano written by female-identifying composers of unique heritages, backgrounds, and cultures. With a wide range of aesthetics and a variety of compositional eras, INVOCATION presents a collection of wonderfully animated performances that provide a fantastic model for the exploration of these composers’ works. Mathieu and Chua carry on the ever-growing tradition of bringing female-identifying composers from all musical eras out of the shadows. Their delicate, tender, and thoughtful iterations of these compositions solidify INVOCATION as a function of its title; a message to the women of this collection to step forward and shine.

Tchaikovsky's works burst with well-loved, well-known melodies – which is precisely what renders them a challenge for any young musician. How does one perform a cherished classic without resorting to cliché or to musical blasphemy? Talented violinist and arranger Sarah Coyl has found her personal answer to this dilemma on PAS DE DEUX: by re-setting the Russian composer's works for unprecedented setups – in this case, the violin-guitar duo and the violin-guitar-piano trio. This audacious endeavor is strengthened not only by Coyl's undeniable talent as a multi-genre arranger, but also by her two skillful colleagues, the keen-minded, quick-fingered guitarist Max Case and emotive, empathetic pianist Angelo Monroy. The result is an album that is still very reverently Tchaikovsky – but seen from a fresher, more youthful angle.

Every pianist makes a piece their own, adding flourishes and signature accents, but Marta Brankovich takes artistic interpretation to a new level. Leveraging her passion and irreplicable touch on the piano, the black swan of piano conjures an unforgettable storm on MARTA, THE TEMPEST. This long-awaited exploratory deep-dive into the classical canon delivers fresh interpretations of works by Rachmaninoff, Chopin, Kaufman, Jirásek, and Webber, complete with a solo piano composition by Brankovich herself that offers an inside look into her artistic emergence. Weaving themes of adversity, opposing forces, and oneness with a profoundly emotive approach, Brankovich delivers a powerful program in this Navona Records release.

Navona Records presents SHOSTAKOVICH / RACHMANINOFF: SONATAS FOR CELLO AND PIANO, an album that highlights the musical expression and virtuosity of these renowned works. Acclaimed award-winning soloist Carmine Miranda and GRAMMY-nominated Nashville Symphony pianist Robert Marler combine their virtuosity with the legendary three-time GRAMMY-nominated producer Alan Shacklock and celebrated mastering engineer Tommy Dorsey (Berlin Philharmonic – Deutsche Grammophon) to deliver the highest quality performances of these works. Deeply expressive with interplay and virtuosic passages, these two sonatas are held to high regard by pianists and cellists alike. Once turning points in the lives of Shostakovich and Rachmaninoff, these works have stood the test of time, rewarded with commanding performances by cellist Carmine Miranda and pianist Robert Marler.

Few instruments are as viscerally associated with the idea of grace and beauty as the harp, and few are as apt to express a sense of yearning as the oboe. So what could possibly capture the feeling of love better than a duo composed of these two instruments? Possibly nothing, as harpist Rita Costanzi and oboist Alex Klein rivetingly demonstrate on AMOROSO, an archetypally romantic album of intimate chamber music. Well-known classics by Debussy, Fauré, Massenet, Rachmaninoff, Piazzolla, and Rodrigo shine in a new light, and two new, fittingly romantic pieces by contemporary composers Michael Cohen and Michael Amorosi perfectly complete this wonderful picture.

Globally recognized for its unique radio programming, innovative collaborations, and community outreach, All Classical Portland presents AMPLIFY, a response to the industry’s inequities in classical music recordings. The works of five contemporary composers are brought to light in this album, each infused with recollections of stories, cities, and movements that have made an impact along the artists’ journey. As the 1,000th album brought to life by parent organization PARMA Recordings, this important Navona Records release marks a monumental achievement in highlighting voices in classical music, and is a step in helping to change America’s playlist.

TEXTURES IN CLASSICS from renowned pianist and music scholar Sang-Hie Lee explores the rich musical possibilities offered by the piano. To do so, Lee performs works from some of the seminal composers in Western music including Mozart, Beethoven, and Brahms. The album captures Lee’s unique pianism at the height of her maturity as an artist. While contemporary performers often place an outsized emphasis on virtuosic technical skill, Lee’s performances examine the notion of texture in piano music; this ranges from the clean, crisp soundscape of Mozart’s early pianoforte to Beethoven’s exacting technique and lush harmonies. There is little doubt that TEXTURES IN CLASSICS will cement Lee’s legacy as a scholarly-artistic pianist.

The story of Misha Galaganov’s CHARM, PASSION, AND ACROBATICS began when the artist uncovered a trove of forgotten, 19th century viola music in a private library. The music on this album from composers Pierre Kunc, Désiré-Émile Inghelbrecht, and Ernest Chausson has long gone unplayed; Kunc’s musical manuscripts, for example, were kept under lock and key by the Society of Authors, Composers and Publishers of Music until 2021. Featuring challenging virtuosic pieces alongside expressive, impressionistic masterworks, this album celebrates the boundless potential of the viola. The music transports the listener to a French salon of the Belle Époque, guided by Galaganov and Owings’ sensitive and technically-masterful performances.

New from Navona Records is saxophonist José Antonio Zayas Cabán’s CENTENNIAL, an album of cutting-edge solo and chamber music reflecting on the shortcomings of the 19th Amendment during its 100-year anniversary. Rather than celebrating, this album urges listeners to recognize the significant work that remains in achieving global equality.

Violinist Véronique Mathieu and pianist Jasmin Arakawa present Navona Records’ CORTÈGE. The name cortège, or “solemn procession,” covers a vast expanse of meaning — while it most often describes a funeral procession, the term also refers to a joyful wedding procession, or a group that follows a person of importance in their honor. Mathieu and Arakawa balance the solemn and the celebratory in this sensitive, dynamic performance. Exploring the works of four French composers — Claude Debussy, Lili Boulanger, Nicolas Bacri, Francis Poulenc — the album is emotional, refined, and triumphant all at the same time.

Since the late 18th century, art songs have combined poetic vocals and equally intricate instrumental accompaniments to delight listeners with intimate compositions across the globe. The Malta Philharmonic Orchestra Trio’s CANTILENA spans the centuries and continents to highlight the form’s enduring appeal.

It all began in 2011, when DuWors and Niekawa, then students at Eastman School of Music, were assigned to perform Mozart's last Sonata for Violin and Piano K. 526 together. The magnificence of the piece not only unlocked a profound musical rapport between the two young musicians, but also inspired their name as a collective.

SPOON HANGING FROM MY NOSE, the debut album by composer J.A. Kawarsky, combines spirit and wit with compositions that dance between tender and strikingly agitated. With works for orchestra, some composed by Kawarsky and others originally by Brahms but arranged and reimagined by Kawarsky, the album as a whole is a triumphant entrance into the full album release for the composer.