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Windswept Vol. III

Modern Chamber Music for Winds

Ferdinando DeSena composer
Stephen Michael Gryč composer
Marilyn Bliss composer
John G. Bilotta composer
John Carbon composer

Belfiato Quintet
Oto Reiprich flute
Jan Souček oboe
Jiří Javůrek clarinet
Jan Hudeček bassoon
Kateřina Javůrková French horn

Release Date: April 4, 2025
Catalog #: NV6725
Format: Digital
21st Century
Chamber
Bassoon
Clarinet
Flute
French horn
Oboe

Woodwind Quintet music offers a treasure trove of nuance and emotional depth, with a bright and warm essence that’s playful, inviting, and in some instances, exhilarating. Navona Records’ WINDSWEPT series continues its presentation of such works in its third volume.

With a fresh line-up of contemporary composers and a decorated modern chamber ensemble, WINDSWEPT VOL. III blends abstract musicality with vivid imagery. Stephen Gryč’s Five American Portraits characterizes historical figures through quirky instrumental solos, while John Bilotta’s Brain Freeze, John Carbon’s Woodwind Quintet, and Ferdinando DeSena’s Rebound explore lyrical, whimsical, and modern tonalities. Marilyn Bliss’ The Discovery of Honey celebrates mythic joy and discovery, capturing Bacchus’s exuberance in a lush, dynamic soundscape.

Available in Dolby Atmos and as a visual album, these works are brought to life by the celebrated Belfiato Quintet, a beacon of excellence in the world of chamber music.

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Track Listing & Credits

# Title Composer Performer
01 The Discovery of Honey Marilyn Bliss Belfiato Quintet | Oto Reiprich, flute; Jan Souček, oboe; Jiří Javůrek, clarinet; Jan Hudeček, bassoon; Kateřina Javůrková, French horn 5:42
02 Rebound Ferdinando DeSena Belfiato Quintet | Oto Reiprich, flute; Jan Souček, oboe; Jiří Javůrek, clarinet; Jan Hudeček, bassoon; Kateřina Javůrková, French horn 7:14
03 Brain Freeze John Bilotta Belfiato Quintet | Oto Reiprich, flute; Jan Souček, oboe; Jiří Javůrek, clarinet; Jan Hudeček, bassoon; Kateřina Javůrková, French horn 4:17
04 Woodwind Quintet: I. March John Carbon Belfiato Quintet | Oto Reiprich, flute; Jan Souček, oboe; Jiří Javůrek, clarinet; Jan Hudeček, bassoon; Kateřina Javůrková, French horn 1:35
05 Woodwind Quintet: II. Offering John Carbon Belfiato Quintet | Oto Reiprich, flute; Jan Souček, oboe; Jiří Javůrek, clarinet; Jan Hudeček, bassoon; Kateřina Javůrková, French horn 1:19
06 Woodwind Quintet: III. Scherzino John Carbon Belfiato Quintet | Oto Reiprich, flute; Jan Souček, oboe; Jiří Javůrek, clarinet; Jan Hudeček, bassoon; Kateřina Javůrková, French horn 1:21
07 Woodwind Quintet: IV. Little Serenade John Carbon Belfiato Quintet | Oto Reiprich, flute; Jan Souček, oboe; Jiří Javůrek, clarinet; Jan Hudeček, bassoon; Kateřina Javůrková, French horn 3:25
08 Woodwind Quintet: V. Finale John Carbon Belfiato Quintet | Oto Reiprich, flute; Jan Souček, oboe; Jiří Javůrek, clarinet; Jan Hudeček, bassoon; Kateřina Javůrková, French horn 1:20
09 Five American Portraits for Five Wind Instruments: I. H.L. Mencken Stephen Gryč Belfiato Quintet | Oto Reiprich, flute; Jan Souček, oboe; Jiří Javůrek, clarinet; Jan Hudeček, bassoon; Kateřina Javůrková, French horn 2:36
10 Five American Portraits for Five Wind Instruments: II. John Cage Stephen Gryč Belfiato Quintet | Oto Reiprich, flute; Jan Souček, oboe; Jiří Javůrek, clarinet; Jan Hudeček, bassoon; Kateřina Javůrková, French horn 2:33
11 Five American Portraits for Five Wind Instruments: III. Henry Ford Stephen Gryč Belfiato Quintet | Oto Reiprich, flute; Jan Souček, oboe; Jiří Javůrek, clarinet; Jan Hudeček, bassoon; Kateřina Javůrková, French horn 1:26
12 Five American Portraits for Five Wind Instruments: IV. Edgar Allan Poe Stephen Gryč Belfiato Quintet | Oto Reiprich, flute; Jan Souček, oboe; Jiří Javůrek, clarinet; Jan Hudeček, bassoon; Kateřina Javůrková, French horn 2:55
13 Five American Portraits for Five Wind Instruments: V. Theodore Roosevelt Stephen Gryč Belfiato Quintet | Oto Reiprich, flute; Jan Souček, oboe; Jiří Javůrek, clarinet; Jan Hudeček, bassoon; Kateřina Javůrková, French horn 2:24

Recorded February 12 & May 16-17, 27, 29, 2024 at the Korunní Street Chapel in Prague, Czech Republic
Recording Session Producer Jan Košulič
Recording Engineer Aleš Dvořák
Assistant Engineer Adam Janků (Tracks 1, 3-13)
Editing and Mixing Jan Košulič
Additional Editing and Mixing Lucas Paquette (Tracks 1, 4-13), Melanie Montgomery (Tracks 2-3)
Mastering Melanie Montgomery

Immersive Audio Engineer Brad Michel

Executive Producer Bob Lord

VP of A&R Brandon MacNeil
A&R Danielle Sullivan, Jeff LeRoy

VP of Production Jan Košulič
Audio Director Lucas Paquette
Production Manager Martina Watzková
Production Assistant Adam Lysák

VP, Design & Marketing Brett Picknell
Art Director Ryan Harrison
Publicity Kacie Brown
Digital Marketing Manager Brett Iannucci

Artist Information

Ferdinando DeSena

Composer

Ferdinando DeSena is a Miami-based composer who was born in Brooklyn NY. His earliest musical experiences were with neighborhood pop, and doo–wop groups. He worked as musician in Ithaca NY for 13 years, playing in several regional bands as keyboard player and lead singer. His final group was Uptown Revue, which he led for seven years

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Stephen Michael Gryč

Composer

Composer Stephen Michael Gryč has always been fascinated by sounds and musical instruments. An intimate understanding of the technique of instruments and the imaginative use of instrumental color are hallmarks of his music. He is Professor Emeritus of Music Composition and Theory at the Hartt School of the University of Hartford in Connecticut where he taught full-time for 35 years. His instrumental expertise has brought him commissions from some of the world's leading soloists including Bert Lucarelli (oboe), John Wion (flute), Carrie Koffman (saxophone), Philip Smith (trumpet), Joseph Alessi (trombone), and Leonid Sigal (violin).

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Marilyn Bliss

Composer

Inspired by the beauty of nature, world culture, art, and literature, the music of Marilyn Bliss brings a breath of fresh air into any concert program. Her inspirations range from the paintings of Morris Louis and Piero di Cosimo, to Hindu, Native American, Greek, Chinese, Afghan, Celtic, French, German, and British literature and myths, to natural phenomena such as the aurora borealis and the flights of birds. Born in Iowa, Bliss received her B.M. degree in composition, flute, and voice at Coe College in Cedar Rapids, and did her graduate studies at the University of Pennsylvania and the City University of New York. Her composition teachers included such distinguished composers as George Crumb, George Rochberg, Jacob Druckman, Jerry Owen, and Harvey Sollberger.

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John G. Bilotta

Composer

John G. Bilotta was born in Waterbury, Connecticut, but has spent most his life in the San Francisco Bay Area having attended the University of California at Berkeley and, later, the San Francisco Music and Arts Institute where he studied composition with Frederick Saunders.

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John Carbon

Composer

Born in Chicago in 1951, John Carbon studied composition at Rice University and at University of California, Santa Barbara, where his teachers were Thea Musgrave, Paul Cooper, and Peter Racine Fricker. Carbon’s music continues to gain prominence due to a number of high-profile performances and recordings, and his output includes three full-length operas, Marie Laveau, Benjamin, and Disappearing Act, along with over 70 choral, orchestral, vocal, and chamber works. Carbon has a special flair for the virtuosity and drama needed for concertos, and has completed works in this genre for clarinet, violin, viola, piano, and double bass. Carbon’s work has been performed in New York at Merkin Concert Hall, Carnegie Hall and Avery Fisher and Alice Tully Halls at Lincoln Center, Boston’s Symphony Hall, and Prague’s Smetana Hall.

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Belfiato Quintet

ensemble

Belfiato Quintet was founded in 2005. The ensemble studied at the Prague Conservatory in the class of Ondrej Roskovec (Czech Philharmonic, Afflatus Quintet) and subsequently at the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague with Stepan Koutnik. Belfiato also studied with Gottfried Pokorny (Universität für Musik und Darstellende Künst Wien).

Members of the Belfiato Quintet play in leading Czech symphonic orchestras, such as the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra, PKF-Prague Philharmonia, and Czech National Theatre. They have won prizes in numerous international competitions, among them the ARD Munich, Prague Spring Competition, and Concertino Praga.

The ensemble has been awarded prizes at international competitions, such as the “Antonin Rejcha prize” at the International Festival in Semmering, Austria. At the 6th International Woodwind Quintet Competition “Henri Tomasi,” held in Marseille in 2011, the Belfiato Quintet won 3rd prize and the prize for the best interpretation of Henri Tomasi’s composition.

Belfiato Quintet performs live regularly in the Czech Republic (chamber music cycles of the Czech Philharmonic, Prague Symphony Orchestra, and PKF – Prague Philharmonia) as well as abroad, most recently on concert seasons such as the Polish National Radio Symphony Orchestra in Katowice, Festival Radio France Occitanie Montpellier, and Czech Embassies in London, and Tokyo. In 2014, Belfiato was invited to perform at the Prague Spring Festival with a program by Czech composers Rejcha, Haas, Foerster, and Janáček. In 2018, the ensemble made its debut in the great Dvořák hall in Prague, a concert highly acclaimed in the Czech press. With the Czech Chamber Philharmonic Pardubice, Belfiato presented Concerto grosso for wind quintet and strings by Czech composer J. Pelikán.

In June 2017, Belfiato Quintet released its debut album Foerster / Haas / Janáček, Music for Wind Instruments on the Czech label Supraphon. The second, very successful album Antonín Rejcha: Wind Quintets followed in 2019. For the performance of Rejcha’s music on this release, Belfiato was awarded the 2019 Classic Prague Award in the “Chamber Music Performance” category. The latest album, ELEMENTS, (featuring music by Nielsen, Hindemith, Barber, Tomasi, Pärt) was released in 2023. Belfiato collaborated on many other recordings, among others the Prague Philharmonic Choir album Stravinsky / Janáček / Bartók: Village Stories (Supraphon 2023).

For its achievements in the 2021 season, Belfiato was awarded the Czech Chamber Music Association prize. This included a recital in the Dvořák hall, which program, comprised aside from the latest release of music, also included a premiere of Bedřich Smetana String Quartet No. 1, From my life, commissioned by Belfiato and arranged by K. Chudý. In 2022 the ensemble appeared again in the PKF — Prague Philharmonia chamber music season. On this occasion, Belfiato offered Leoš Janáček’s The Diary of One Who Disappeared (arr. by J. Pelikán) and performed with renowned Czech tenor Petr Nekoranec. Belfiato Quintet continues its international career and focuses substantially on Czech music.

belfiato.cz

Notes

The Discovery of Honey takes its inspiration from a painting by Piero di Cosimo from c. 1499, which depicts a story about the God Bacchus found in the “Fasti” by Ovid. In my adaptation, we find ourselves in the lush forests of the Rhodope Mountains, located in southern Bulgaria and northeastern Greece, where we hear the call of birds and other forest creatures. Into this landscape enter Bacchus and his companions (satyrs and bacchantes), enjoying the forest and good weather and gradually making more and more noise as they continue their travels. The increasingly loud crash of cymbals suddenly stirs unknown flying creatures, which buzz and swarm the group. These creatures (bees, of course) settle as a group in a tree hollow. In a sudden inspiration, Bacchus’ companions shut the bees in the hollow. Then they discover a mysterious oozing substance coming from where the bees gathered, and take a taste — they are ecstatic! As the honey is gathered and shared, the satyrs and bacchantes celebrate in an increasingly joyful and frenetic celebration (Bacchus’s companion Silenius is drunk, of course) until they exhaust themselves. Then they go on their merry way, carrying some of the honey with them to share with others, along with the knowledge of how to find it.

The Discovery of Honey was commissioned by the Englewinds Ensemble and premiered by them on November 5, 2023 at the Puffin Cultural Forum in Teaneck NJ.

— Marilyn Bliss

Rebound is a single movement work for woodwind quintet composed in 2022. It is my third quintet and first in almost 20 years. The melodic and harmonic materials are based on a sequence of 9 notes, its transpositions, inversions, and their transpositions.

— Ferdinando DeSena

Brain Freeze was inspired by John F. McGrew’s series of stories about the adventures of Robby and his BFF, a small robot. In particular, this music ties into the closing dialog of the first story which begins with a birthday party and ends, improbably, with an ice cream truck…

Robby said, “I hear an ice cream truck; let’s get some ice cream.”
“What’s ice cream?” asked BFF.
“It’s cold and sweet, and you’re going to like it,” answered Robby, “Unless you get a brain freeze.”
“What’s a brain freeze?”
“If you eat your ice cream too fast, it freezes your brain.”
“What happens then?”
“You won’t be able to move until your brain thaws out.”
“Is that bad?”
“Only if zombies are lurking about.”
(from John F. McGrew’s ʺRobbyʹs BFF: The Beginningʺ)

— John G. Bilotta

My 15-minute woodwind quintet was written in 2008. The writing is both lyrical and whimsical. The moods painted in these five short movements range from poignant to manic. Scored for flute, oboe, clarinet, horn, and bassoon, the first movement, “March,” evokes a haunted carnival atmosphere. In “Offering” a somber, chordal texture creates a ceremonial effect.“Scherzino,” is a fluttering and scurrying piece that evokes a wry and witty conversation. “Little Serenade” is operatic in its tone, with lyrical solos for each of the instruments. The “Finale” is an “insect dance” with shifting meters and pungent harmonies.

— John Carbon

Five American Portraits for Five Wind Instruments was composed in 1986-87 under commission from the Soni Fidelis Wind Quintet which premiered the work in 1987 in Hartford, Connecticut. The wind quintet is the oddest of standard instrumental ensembles, comprising five instruments of highly contrasting personalities and sound qualities. In the Five American Portraits, each of the five players is featured as a soloist in one of the movements and assumes a human persona as distinctive and as quirky as the individual instrument. American social critic H. L. Mencken is personified by the clarinet which argues with the other four instruments and wins! Iconic American composer John Cage is represented by the flute in a quiet Zen-like movement. The oboe is the soloist in the Henry Ford movement with its motor rhythms. A soliloquizing bassoon is featured in the ghostly Edgar Allan Poe movement, and the horn leads the charge in the energetic final movement identified with Theodore Roosevelt. Despite the names that are associated with each movement, the music is more abstract than programmatic. As in most of my compositions, the musical ideas in the piece are inspired by the colors and capabilities of the instruments themselves.

— Stephen Michael Gryč

Explore more albums in this series

Windswept

Windswept Vol. II