Instrumentaion: Piano

What must it feel like to play an instrument that is one of seven known to exist in the world and is two hundred years old? Pianists Shuko Watanabe and Timothy Gaylard know this feeling, playing works written by Muzio Clementi (1752-1832) on a Clementi grand fortepiano in pieces on the Navona Records release, CLEMENTI GRAND.

With a distinctly contemporary compositional signature that draws on minimalism and popular music of the late 20th century, and also recalls the 19th-century Romantic tradition, composer and pianist Scott Pender explores the expressive natures of four instruments - piano, violin, viola, and cello - on his debut solo release on Navona Records, 88+12.

THE FAIR OPHELIA, the second installment on Navona Records' The Shakespeare Concerts Series, features works by composer Joseph Summer that are inspired by Shakespeare's The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark! With Shakespeare's texts accompanied with music by Brahms, Strauss, Berlioz, Saint-Saëns, Schumann, and Joseph Summer, this album for vocal and chamber music consists of diverse settings that present the listener with an opportunity to hear Ophelia in a three dimensional perspective. Summer's works have been described as "[varying] in mood and compositional technique from piece to piece, but always beautifully expressive and deeply emotional" (Shakespeare Matters).

FOUR QUARTETS OF SONGS & ARIAS, the debut Navona release by composer Roger Bourland, takes us on a touching journey by way of works for voice (Juliana Gondek) and piano (William Lumpkin). The album features four song cycles, each a four song set depicting a range of emotion and feeling.

ICE & FIRE, the debut Navona Records album by Stephen Scott, showcases a variety of works for bowed piano. The album features The Bowed Piano Ensemble, an experimental piano group based at Colorado College in Colorado Springs that was founded by Scott.

FOR THE YOUNG ARTIST, Michael Glenn Williams' debut on Navona Records, pursues the tradition of hearing a composer's works performed by a world-class musician. Sean Chen, a rising star pianist who had his 2013 break through winning the prestigious American Pianists Association DeHaan Classical Fellow Award and the Crystal Award at the Van Cliburn Piano Competition, performs the works of Williams.

POLARITIES, an album of new presentations in classical music, expresses the emotions, feelings, and scenes associated with opposites. The works on the album, by four composers, range from a piece for wind ensemble and the Chinese gaohu, to a piano sonata, a chamber work, and works for orchestra.

THE KEY OF C-SPAN, Vol. 1 is the premiere release of the digital music collections featuring works from PARMA Recordings' audio catalog which have been used in C-SPAN's programming. PARMA and C-SPAN's collaborative relationship stems back to January 2013, when the two companies teamed up on C-SPAN series First Ladies: Influence & Image, for which PARMA produced a customized theme song. In May 2013, PARMA signed on as C-SPAN's music provider, placing content from its audio catalog across the network's original programming, promotions, and Senate quorum calls.

Drawing from a diverse set of genres and stylistic sources including atonal, folk, chant, dance, and more, Alexandra Ottaway's solo Navona Records debut TETRAHEDRON DREAMS presents a singular and striking listening experience.

Navona Records' new installment of the FINE MUSIC series presents a deep cross-sectionof the label's wide-ranging and provocative 2013/2014 release slate, featuring performances by the Grammy-nominated New York Polyphony, Ensemble Dal Niente, cellist Chris Wild, Grammy-winning clarinetist Richard Stoltzman, the Apollo Chamber Players, and many more in works by Hindemith, DeGaetano, Hodkinson, Ramette, Stevens, Williams, Bakker, Rotolo, Vines, Sternfeld-Dunn, Brown, Tarlow, and others.

Navona Records is proud to present NOVA, the 27th edition of the acclaimed Society of Composers, Inc. CD Series and the third SCI release on Navona. This entry in the series features chamber works by eight SCI composers.

Since the late 1980s, Swiss Composer Schlumpf has been widely active in the borderlands between improvisation and composition. With STREAMS, the follow-up to his 2012 Navona Records release SUMMER CIRCLE, Schlumpf presents three concertos that are representative of a creative period in his career marked by the influence of minimalism and jazz, new tonal concepts, a strong emphasis on rhythm, and clear-cut formal designs.

Hailed as "convincing, emotional, passionate and vivid" (The Musical Review) and "destined to enter the ranks of the standard classical repertoire" (New York Times), Fredrick Kaufman resonates with worldwide audiences through impassioned and prolific compositions that go beyond mere interpretation. He thoroughly digests inspiration, internalizing and individualizing his ideas to create moving and impactful works that do more than simply relay a message. Kaufman's music captures feeling and emotion, reaching the listener with convincing sincerity.

THE PARMA SESSIONS: KAROLINA ROJAHN presents a series of recordings featuring longtime PARMA collaborator and pianist Karolina Rojahn. Showcasing the artist's skill, adaptability, and dedication, this digital compilation features Rojahn performing works by a diverse set of composers with myriad influences and styles.

DEDICATION, a compilation of newly recorded works by composer Howard Quilling, features two sonatas for violin and piano, a suite for saxophone and wind orchestra, and a trio for violin, cello, and piano.

CYCLES OF THE MOON, the new release from composer Ayala Asherov, is a colorful and poignant cross-section of works from various cycles of the composer's life. As a native of Israel, Ms. Asherov's music is largely informed by Hebrew chamber music. The music is tonal and intended to be accessible, says Asherov, "I didn't want to write what I thought a listener would not want to hear. My guiding light-or should I say melody-is something one can hold on to while exercising the imagination."

This new release from concert pianist and composer Robert DeGaetano is a lush cross-section of virtuosic piano music which pairs Chopin's Piano Concerto No.1 in E Minor and Mr. DeGaetano's own Piano Concerto No.1 in a heart-stopping exhibition of balance and brilliance.

WITH PASSION is the latest release from Navona Records featuring the works of French composer Yves Ramette (1921-2012). Exquisitely beautiful, these cascading works for solo piano stand alone within a palate of tine, color, and space that Mr. Ramette crafted and honed throughout his studies and professional career.

Composer Jeffrey Stadelman's unusual, arresting, exacting musical voice has evolved over 25 years, amounting to a complex musical practice that suggests no obvious counterpart. MESSENGER, an all-Stadelman release on Navona, includes a variety of his orchestral, instrumental, and electroacoustic works.

About 100 years ago, classical music made a jagged turn away from the harmonic structures that had comprised its underpinnings for several centuries. This departure was early-on dubbed atonalism, and opposed the functional harmony that prevailed during the great musical flourishing of the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries. Composer Sparky Davis, who takes a "modern, not modernistic" approach to writing his music, continues this forward movement, expanding the vocabulary of music to include non-traditional elements and adding to the functional uses of long-established note combinations.