Division of Memory
Catalog #: NV6373
Release Date: October 8, 2021
21st CenturyChamberCelloPianoNavona Records presents DIVISION OF MEMORY, a comprehensive collection featuring a variety of sound production methods displayed on the cello by Thomas Mesa. The works of composers Lydia Jane Pugh, George Holloway, Ben Yee-Paulson, Jonathan Chenette, and Elizabeth Start are featured on this album, each with their own compositional personality and a repertoire dedicated to the multifaceted soundscape of the cello.
Modern Muses
Catalog #: NV6377
Release Date: October 22, 2021
21st CenturyChamberVocal MusicCelloVoiceMODERN MUSES is an entirely new presentation of captivating music in its first commercial recording and release, showcasing works composed by women and works representing female perspective. Inspired by Greek and Roman mythology, Josefien Stoppelenburg’s arresting soprano is juxtaposed with Jean Hatmaker’s poetic cello in this recording, fostering a rich musical dichotomy that blends together in a refreshingly powerful way.
Psalms
Catalog #: NV6354
Release Date: July 23, 2021
21st CenturyChamberLiturgicalVocal MusicFlutePianoVoiceOne does not have to be religious to appreciate the depth, inspiration, and melodiousness of PSALMS, Eloise Hynes Stowe's new album from Navona Records. Scored for voice and piano, and occasionally supplemented by flute and violin, these psalms and hymns immediately demonstrate the literary and emotional grasp of the biblical texts and ecclesiastical interpretations.
Transfiguration
Catalog #: NV6355
Release Date: July 23, 2021
21st CenturyChamberViolaFrom online performances to benefit albums, musicians kept their art alive throughout the most dire days of the coronavirus pandemic. Among them are composer Stanley Grill and violist Brett Deubner, who collaborated via remote recording sessions to transform Grill’s multi-instrumental chamber pieces into an intimate collection of multilayered works for viola. The resulting album, TRANSFIGURATION, showcases a singular connection between composer and performer.
Sound & Light
Catalog #: NV6339
Release Date: March 26, 2021
21st CenturyChamberBrass EnsemblePianoOn SOUND AND LIGHT, Demondrae Thurman wields the euphonium to further expand its repertoire and cement its graceful power into the minds of composers of solos and orchestral works alike. Playing works written by five close friends, Thurman wholly dedicates himself to unlocking the musical mysteries of every measure and fully exploring the instrument’s potential.
Moto Eterno
Catalog #: NV6341
Release Date: March 26, 2021
21st CenturyChamberPiano TrioTen international composers showcase their respective styles on MOTO ETERNO, the latest installment of NAVONA's successful MOTO chamber music series. Like the previous MOTO releases, MOTO ETERNO is the result of a wide-ranging Call For Scores and a scrupulous selection process. Acclaimed piano trio Trio Casals (Ovidiu Marinescu, cello; Alexandr Kislitsyn, violin; Anna Kislitsyna, piano), masterfully perform their favorite picks.
Mother Earth
Catalog #: NV6351
Release Date: June 25, 2021
21st CenturyChamberPianoViolaMOTHER EARTH, the new album from celebrated violist Brett Deubner with PARMA Recordings, reflects humanity’s search for meaning in the midst of loss and mortal frailty. Born out of the strife of 2020, MOTHER EARTH expresses the angst and hope of this deeply challenging period through the language of music. Chant-like meditations, cathartic outpourings, and even a call to arms for environmental justice are only a few of the themes explored in MOTHER EARTH.
Sustain Vol. 2
Catalog #: NV6345
Release Date: April 23, 2021
21st CenturyChamberSolo InstrumentalPianoPiano TrioSaxophoneTwo years after the release of SUSTAIN comes the long-anticipated follow-up, SUSTAIN VOL. 2. This fresh collection of works centered around the piano includes a range of contemporary compositional styles: tonal, atonal, and everything in between. This volume features a new cast of composers and performers, with contributions by Sarah Wallin-Huff, Karen Tarlow, Chen-Hsin Su, Bill Sherrill, Jim Puckett, Ron Nagorcka, Gordon Monahan, Kenneth A. Kuhn, Santiago Kodela, John Craven, and John A. Carollo. The album’s varied soundscapes and arrangements—including solo piano, piano and saxophone, and piano and strings—constantly surprise and delight the ear. A fitting sequel to the first installment, SUSTAIN VOL. 2 is steeped in the dynamic complexity piano music offers.
Fleeting Realms Vol. 2
Catalog #: NV6348
Release Date: May 14, 2021
21st CenturyChamberPiano TrioString QuartetVoiceEven the briefest moments can burn themselves into memory, inspiring feelings that last a lifetime. On FLEETING REALMS VOL 2, works in chamber settings tap into our innermost thoughts and emotions, stirring the senses and sparking imagination.
Wild Blue Yonder
Catalog #: NV6346
Release Date: April 23, 2021
20th Century21st CenturyChamberCelloOboeViolinEleanor Alberga explores the whole gamut of the human experience in WILD BLUE YONDER, an equally diverse and coherent set of four contemporary chamber music pieces. While written over the course of twenty-two years, these pieces burst the limits of both space and time. No-Man’s-Land Lullaby reaches back over a century to World War I; Shining Gate of Morpheus enters the realm of the mystical; Succubus Moon explores the dark sides of the human psyche; and The Wild Blue Yonder offers a glimpse into a world that is at once alien and wonderful. Undauntedly, positively unsettling album; perfect listening for these unsettling times and a worthy addition to the much hailed album of Alberga's three string quartets from 2019.
Lock & Key Vol. II
Catalog #: NV6335
Release Date: February 12, 2021
21st CenturyChamberClarinetPianoWind EnsembleLOCK & KEY VOL II is the second presentation of five composers drawing from the well of inspiration – in highly heterogeneous ways and from a plethora of sources, yet all united by a common theme: the profound depths of the human experience. The pieces all revel exuberantly: in the natural beauty of Iceland, the nostalgia evoked by a distantly familiar melody, the random augury of a deck of tarot cards, late 19th Century anthems adapted for woodwind quintet, or the kinetic energy of musical gestures.
Remember
Catalog #: NV6338
Release Date: March 12, 2021
21st CenturyChamberPianoViolaStanley Grill’s REMEMBER is presented by Navona Records. Featuring viola and piano, these inventive works aptly demonstrate Grill’s unique style; rooted in his passion for medieval and Renaissance music, his compositions are as pioneering and contemporary as they are fundamentally traditional. Grill’s work focuses particularly on melody, modal harmonies, and contrapuntal, interweaving lines. The result is a musical experience greater than the sum of the instruments involved.
Conversations with My Soul
Catalog #: NV6336
Release Date: February 5, 2021
21st CenturyChamberVocal MusicPianoString QuartetVoiceNewly released from Navona is CONVERSATIONS WITH MY SOUL, a collection of new chamber works from acclaimed composer-pianist Bun-Ching Lam. The music sets in different languages the poetry of Shelley, Heine, Rimbaud, and Lasker-Shüller, as well as the poems of 9th Century Chinese mystic Han Shan and contemporary writer Etel Adnan. In a compositional voice The New York Times has called “alluringly exotic,” Lam incorporates baritone voice, piano, viola, flute, French horn, and harp to elucidate timeless works concerning life’s fundamental questions.
Transit Voices
Catalog #: NV6332
Release Date: February 12, 2021
21st CenturyChamberCelloClarinetPianoNavona Records is proud to release TRANSIT VOICES from composer Carl Vollrath. Featuring a series of works for clarinet, the album grapples with existential questions; who were the humans of prehistory, and what defining qualities do our spirits share in common with theirs? Vollrath imagines these clarinet pieces as found archaeological objects, voices from long ago that have somehow made their way to our present-day ears. Inspired by Andrew Robinson's book Lost Languages: The Enigma of the World's Undeciphered Scripts, the music plums a cavernous underworld for clues toward a deeper understanding of human existence.
Breaking the Silence
Catalog #: NV6326
Release Date: January 8, 2021
21st CenturyChamberSolo InstrumentalCelloClarinetOboeNavona Records proudly presents BREAKING THE SILENCE from legendary Australian composer George Palmer. The works featured on this new album draw inspiration from centuries-old poetry as well as the composer’s own life experience; Breaking the Silence unpacks a 17th-century pastoral haiku depicting a lone frog’s leap into a still pond, while Not Going Quietly is a touching tribute to a concert pianist whose life was cut short by a brain tumor.
Three Perspectives
Catalog #: NV6279
Release Date: January 22, 2021
21st CenturyChamberPiano TrioThe piano trio Pangaea Chamber Players explores the fickle nexus between music and visual art in their Navona release THREE PERSPECTIVES. While the ensemble's flute-cello-piano setup might evoke ideas of Baroque music, there are no such reminiscences to be found. Instead, the young trio presents three new compositions by contemporary composers. Although recent works, all pieces on THREE PERSPECTIVES are tonal – perhaps owing to their descriptive, illustrative purpose.
Drift
Catalog #: NV6318
Release Date: November 13, 2020
21st CenturyChamberClarinetElectroacousticWind EnsembleThe Society of Composers, Inc. continues its decades-long mission to promote and disseminate contemporary music on DRIFT, the 34th installment of the SCI Composers’ Series. DRIFT marks the 10th album in the series to release on Navona Records, and SCI continues to curate new works by luminaries that span generations.
Brush Strokes
Catalog #: NV6320
Release Date: December 11, 2020
21st CenturyChamberFluteOboeBRUSH STROKES from Athenia Trio features works for flute, oboe, and bassoon. The program harnesses the impressive versatility of the trio, with six pieces by six different composers, including two commissioned specially for the ensemble: Alyssa Morris’s Brush Strokes, and Robbie McCarthy's The Blind Men and the Elephant.
Centennial
Catalog #: NV6309
Release Date: September 25, 2020
21st CenturyRomanticChamberElectronicPianoSaxophoneNew 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.