Dashing Vol. 5
Catalog #: NV6671
Release Date: November 15, 2024
21st CenturyHolidayChoirHarpOrchestraOn the hunt for a flurry of contemporary classical works to soundtrack your holiday season? Look no further than DASHING VOL. 5 from Navona Records. This installment of the series unwraps the spirited, uplifting, and grandiose qualities of classical holiday music, exploring new interpretations of mainstay melodies, sonic interpretations of snowfall, delicate carols, and more. Featuring an array of instrumental and vocal music from several lauded composers and performers, DASHING VOL. 5 serves as a cheerful reminder that music may be the greatest gift of all.
Máscaras
Catalog #: NV6575
Release Date: February 9, 2024
21st CenturyConcertosOrchestralHarpOrchestraProduced with audio captured from two live concerts held at Merrill Auditorium in Portland ME, the Portland Symphony Orchestra presents a world-class recording featuring works by three living Mexican composers on MÁSCARAS. The PSO makes their opening statement with a newly-revised version of Enrico Chapela’s 2017 work Rotor, an intense rhythmic etude, followed by Arturo Márquez’s Máscaras, a concerto for harp and orchestra inspired by ancient pre-Hispanic Mexican tradition. Ángeles de Llama y Hielo by Ana Lara follows suit, a nod to a 16th century German woodcut print and the cosmological philosophy that inspired it. Polished, authentic, and strong, the performances on MÁSCARAS reflect the Portland Symphony Orchestra’s rich musical energy and commitment to ever broadening its horizons.
Aria
Catalog #: NV6577
Release Date: January 5, 2024
21st CenturyChamberVocal MusicHarpPiano TrioVoiceComposer Michael Cohen delivers an enticing follow up to his 2022 Navona Records release with ARIA, his second full album of original chamber works. Featuring a mix of studio and live recordings captured from various points in his diverse and expansive career, Cohen’s music emanates a thorough line of vitality and fervor. While strikingly rooted in tonal principles, these works embrace an elegant, confident, and ebullient character, permeated by a magnificent, effervescent spontaneity throughout.
Wild Swans
Catalog #: NV6547
Release Date: August 11, 2023
21st CenturyChamberVocal MusicClarinetHarpPianoVoiceDiane Maltester and Nancy Bachmann take listeners on a mesmerizing musical journey with WILD SWANS. Contemporary composer Nancy Bachmann’s exquisite music entices listeners with an artist’s pallet of expressive and progressive sounds. Released under Navona Records, this extraordinary album showcases Bachmann’s compositions for the superbly talented clarinetist, Diane Maltester. WILD SWANS takes flight through compositions for voice, woodwind quintet, trios, duos, and unaccompanied clarinet. The wings of Bachmann’s imaginative energy and Maltester’s interpretive virtuosity transport the listener to beautiful and exotic destinations. As one explores the transcendent compositions on WILD SWANS Bachmann’s brilliance and versatility shine through on every track, illuminated by the extraordinary artistry of Maltester and all her collaborators. A captivating mix of wildness and grace!
Amoroso
Catalog #: NV6477
Release Date: January 27, 2023
20th CenturyRomanticChamberHarpOboeFew 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.