Pictures of the Hidden
Catalog #: NV6180
Release Date: September 14, 2018
21st CenturyChamberVocal MusicString QuartetVoiceWind EnsembleKamyar Mohajer’s PICTURES OF THE HIDDEN honors the composer’s “four Grand Masters:" Johann Sebastian Bach, Persian poet Hafez, and his parents. In this album, Mohajer shares his artistic upbringing by combining his roots in Persian modality with his love of Western classical music.
Several Times
Catalog #: NV6179
Release Date: September 14, 2018
21st CenturyChamberSolo InstrumentalPianoString QuartetSEVERAL TIMES is an impressive collection spanning over four decades of the composer’s career. Though artistic development is present throughout the larger timeline of the album, each composition demonstrates innovative approaches to time and repetition. These innovations reflect a desire to not only learn and understand time, but master it.
Secrets For Free
Catalog #: NV6178
Release Date: August 10, 2018
21st CenturyChamberOrchestralFluteOrchestraString QuartetIt should be no secret that Miami-based composer Ferdinando De Sena is a tour de force amongst electroacoustic composers. Just listening to SECRETS FOR FREE is all the proof you need. The EP boasts adventurous yet accessible compositions that balance real instruments with computer-generated sound. SECRETS FOR FREE is a testament to fans of either subgenre that the two approaches to classical music do not have to be mutually exclusive.
Of Time & Place
Catalog #: NV6162
Release Date: June 8, 2018
21st CenturyChamberSolo InstrumentalPianoPiano TrioString QuartetComposer Monica Houghton has a musical and academic resume that is made even more exceptional by her experiences as a true citizen of the world. Her travels around the globe have led her to incorporate non-Western instruments and musical practices into several of her compositions as well as to find inspiration trekking through Peru, or by exploring the remote and desolate areas of the American West. On CHAMBER WORKS, her debut on Navona Records, Houghton incorporates these influences along with many others to deliver eight stunning performances showcased in a variety of musical configurations.
My Ancestor’s Gift
Catalog #: NV6155
Release Date: April 13, 2018
21st CenturyChamberPiano TrioString OrchestraString QuartetOn his Navona Records debut, composer Carlos Simon masterfully combines influences from jazz, gospel, and neoromanticism. MY ANCESTOR’S GIFT incorporates spoken word and historic recordings to craft a multifaceted program of musical works that are inspired as much by the past as they are the present.
Axioms
Catalog #: NV6151
Release Date: April 13, 2018
21st CenturyChamberString QuartetAn axiom is a self-evident truth. Everything on this album represents different aspects and shades of truth. On their debut recording, Axiom Quartet probes the soul and delivers a deeply satisfying statement on truth and inner fulfillment.
Exhaling Space
Catalog #: NV6145
Release Date: March 9, 2018
21st CenturyChamberGuitarSaxophoneString QuartetWith EXHALING SPACE, Alejandro Rutty and his cast of remarkable performers create one hour of fresh, captivating music combining Latin and world music styles with the classical tradition. With tracks like the futuristic tango Martian Milonga and the meditative More Music for Examining and Buying Merchandise, Rutty composes the album like a breathing exercise, taking in an anxious pace in one movement, and then in the next, letting the melodies exhale gently through the piece.
Notes to Loved Ones
Catalog #: NV6143
Release Date: March 9, 2018
21st CenturyChamberPianoString QuartetViolaUp-and-coming composer Peter Dayton makes his Navona Records debut with the release of Notes to Loved Ones, an album of works for piano and strings. Dayton’s style of composition is heavily influenced by people with whom he is fascinated and their works of art.
Young Prometheus
Catalog #: NV6140
Release Date: February 9, 2018
21st CenturyChamberSolo InstrumentalClarinetPianoString QuartetInspired by poetry and prose, composer Mark Volker’s latest release YOUNG PROMETHEUS is about reactions. From the philosophical reaction to the “Three Quotations" to the physical reactions in “Echoes of Yesterday," Volker creates an atmosphere that both conveys the optimistic and ominous.
Ancestral Voices
Catalog #: NV6130
Release Date: November 10, 2017
21st CenturyChamberString QuartetNavona Records presents ANCESTRAL VOICES, the Apollo Chamber Players’ next installment in their 20x2020 project. 20x2020 is an initiative to commission 20 new folk music-inspired and multicultural works by the end of the decade. This fiery release comprises four 20x2020 works from composers Gilad Cohen, Arthur Gottschalk, Malek Jandali, and Javier Farias.
Skyborn
Catalog #: NV6128
Release Date: November 10, 2017
21st CenturyChamberSolo InstrumentalChoirPianoString QuartetShocking, gripping, and thought-provoking, Mara Gibson's new album SKY-BORN conjures a flurry of emotions through its moody music. In one moment, the busy strings create a fury of anxious, energetic sounds; the next, the strike of a lone piano chord paints a brooding soundscape.
Ascend
Catalog #: NV6112
Release Date: July 14, 2017
21st CenturyChamberSolo InstrumentalClarinetElectroacousticString QuartetASCEND, the latest collaboration between PARMA Recordings and the Society of Composes, Inc., is an enthralling showcase of leading composers and performers from around the world. Featuring fantastic ensembles, and with works that reference far-flung locations and historical events, this album journeys fascinatingly through time and space as it compiles a competitively selected sample of today’s best compositions.
Spells
Catalog #: NV6096
Release Date: May 12, 2017
21st CenturyChamberOrchestralChoirOrchestraString QuartetSPELLS, a new retrospective collection highlighting the music of poet and composer Juli Nunlist, marks a touching journey through the earnest, romantic, and dramatic sounds of the late artist’s compositional language. The album’s works demonstrate Nunlist’s appreciation for tradition and grandeur, and are driven by her remarkable gift for melody and clear fascination with instrumental texture.
Bliss Point
Catalog #: NV6093
Release Date: May 12, 2017
21st CenturyChamberFlutePianoString QuartetWhen approaching his latest chamber album BLISS POINT, Polish-born violinist and composer Piotr Szewczyk turned to a unique lens of inspiration – food science. His interpretation of a “bliss point” in the culinary sense embodies the technique’s saturation of a flavor just before the point of diminished potency. Of course, he trades in the contents of his spice cabinet in favor of diverse instrumental pairings, and in doing so, the composer explores the “saturation limits in the full spectrum of emotions, textures, and characters.” In doing so, Szewczyk is confident that the resulting collection of chamber works “covers the entire expressive range of my vocabulary and artistic sensitivity.”
String Quartet No. 1 The Music of Erich Zann
Catalog #: NV6083
Release Date: February 10, 2017
21st CenturyChamberString QuartetComposer Michael J. Evans’ THE MUSIC OF ERICH ZANN is a startling and surreal musical interpretation of H.P. Lovecraft’s 1922 tale of the eponymous violist – a mysterious old man who seemingly protects himself from dark, magical forces by playing the viol. Evans is a gifted melodist, and his other PARMA Recordings and Navona albums showcase his predilections for the rich textures and harmonic language of late European Romanticism.
The Passing Sound of Forever
Catalog #: NV6068
Release Date: January 13, 2017
21st CenturyChamberSolo InstrumentalFluteString QuartetViolinSound and space are two elements that emerge at the heart of Jane O’Leary’s THE PASSING SOUND OF FOREVER. The collection showcases O’Leary’s compositional gifts through a variety of her chamber compositions. O’Leary’s string writing soars in THE PASSING SOUND OF FOREVER, and demonstrates her remarkable sensitivity to the instruments’ sonic palette and expressive potential. Every color, from ethereal natural harmonics to frenetic bowing, is at O’Leary’s disposal, and is exploited beautifully to produce evocative and compelling soundscapes.
Splash of Indigo
Catalog #: NV6064
Release Date: November 18, 2016
21st CenturyChamberSolo InstrumentalPianoPiano TrioString QuartetAmerican composer Marty Regan specializes in composing music for traditional Japanese instruments, a fascination he has developed since 2000. Regan describes his Japanese-style compositions as, “hybrid musical soundscapes that reflect the age in which we live, an era based not necessarily on globalization, but of partnership based on global cultural interaction.” In contrast, SPLASH OF INDIGO features a complementary side of Regan’s output, containing only works for Western orchestral instruments and voice.
Sursum
Catalog #: NV6062
Release Date: November 18, 2016
21st CenturyChamberSolo InstrumentalPianoString QuartetWith his new album SURSUM, composer Michael Slayton presents six compelling compositions, each performed by a different ensemble or solo performer. Despite the album’s varied & esteemed assemblage of performers, there lies a common thread throughout in both the form of Slayton’s distinguished composing style – dreamy but focused, and equal parts smooth and dissonant – as well as the imagery that the music conjures.
The Crossroads Project
Catalog #: NV6054
Release Date: September 9, 2016
21st CenturyChamberString QuartetThroughout history, musicians and activists have enlisted the power of music to connect us to the pressing issues of our times. The brainchild of physicist Robert Davies, THE CROSSROADS PROJECT comprises two performances, Rising Tide and Emergence, performed by the Fry Street Quartet in multi-disciplinary collaboration.
Three String Quartets
Catalog #: NV6048
Release Date: July 8, 2016
21st CenturyChamberString QuartetComposer Jeffrey Stadelman presents three string quartets on Navona Records, each offering distinct perspectives on his career and versatile style of composition. Performed by the New England String Quartet, these works illustrate the composer’s intense, lyrical, and sensuous modes of expression.