Catalog

Stephen Page saxophone Alexandre Maynegre-Torra piano Saxophonist Stephen Page returns to Navona Records with EARTHLY ROUND, a selection of chamber works that showcase the saxophone's capacity to traverse diverse styles, emotions, and cultural influences. The title piece from composer Miriama Young serves as a poignant musical meditation on [...]

Award-winning choral ensemble Cantori New York presents FOUND AGAIN, a poignant exploration of human connection, self-growth, and collective pursuit of a better world. At once forward-looking and deeply introspective, this collection features three works espousing the power of transformative renewal. Each presents a revised version of an earlier work, offering an opportunity for rediscovery, recentering, and new understanding. The New Amorous World, by Lembit Beecher, reflects on the limitations and possibilities of humankind in a spirited setting of texts by French utopian philosopher Charles Fourier. Beauty by Beauty, by John Rommereim, contrasts with a gentle, inward-looking setting of texts by three-time U.S. poet laureate Joy Harjo on themes of courage, spiritual transformation, and of human connection to the earth and to one another. The title track – Found Again, by Jerod Impichchaachaaha’ Tate – presents a second setting of Joy Harjo poems exploring cultural connection, reconciliation, and renewal.

The name for Bruce Stark's album VIBRANT could not be more aptly chosen: if ever there was the acoustic equivalent of fireworks in solo piano music, this would be it. Interpreted to perfection by Indonesian pianist Isabella Jie, virtuosic sparks fly and rich colors blossom. The apparent formality of Stark's compositions — a sonata, a kind of suite, a set of dances, a toccata — betrays the innovation that lives and breathes within these pieces: there's a similar spirit at play here as in the works of Prokofiev or Takemitsu. The language is tonal, yet never commonplace; but most striking is the level of energy, with a firepower that is off the charts. An exhilarating experience.

Few things are as shrouded in mystery as the process behind the conception of an idea — partially because verbal explorations of cognition are seldom fruitful. But where words fail, music steps in to enlighten: and this is the aim of Kevin Bobo's ORIGINS & EXPANSIONS, a philosophical reflection scored for wind ensemble and steelpan. Bobo musically examines the turbulent process of creation, from uncertain beginnings to victorious transformations. ORIGINS & EXPANSIONS evokes the tentative emergence of an idea, winding through obstacles and moments of introspection, and eventually captures the fragile resilience of inspiration forming. It's a cerebral, immersive exploration of existence itself; metaphysical, yes, but also richly narrative.

Not long ago, the West developed an overwhelming love for all things Korean: cuisine, romance dramas, pop groups. Much less notorious is the emerging Korean scene of serious music composers. Internationally-acclaimed pianist Eun-Hee Park aims to shed light on its abundance with her new release, KOREAN SOUNDSCAPES.

It is no secret that John Rommereim harbors an immense love for vocal music. Known for his choral compositions as well as his conducting of choirs, it would be easy to pigeonhole the man — were it not for the existence of his instrumental works. INTO THE STILL HOLLOW juxtaposes both talents, and offers a glimpse at Rommereim's multifarious accomplishments. The variety is astounding. There are intimate lieder, accompanied by piano or an evocative string quartet; a three-part suite for solo guitar; and unconventional duos, one for organ and saxophone, the other for organ and oboe. Stylistically, the pieces walk the fine line between Western tradition and its ritual annihilation. Cerebral, yes, but also impassioned.

Composer Kevin Wilt’s TAVERN MUSIC is an evocative collection of chamber works performed by pianist Irena Kofman and the Amernet String Quartet. Wilt’s compositions employ vivid musical color and texture across a variety of styles. The title piece draws on Celtic and Gaelic traditions, blending classical technique with folk-inspired melodies; it emulates the sounds of a jam session in a local pub, with friends and their fiddles gathered around a table sharing a pint. Out in the Storm captures the drama of a South Florida thunderstorm, while Silver Nitrate Reverie is a nostalgic reflection on classic cinema. TAVERN MUSIC is an uniquely inviting collection of chamber works.

SYMPHONY NO. 3 from composer Michael Kurek is a tribute to the history and natural beauty of England. The work is fundamentally Romantic, but is also influenced by Edwardian English music. The composer draws inspiration from personal memories, nature, poetry, and art; “Upon a Walk in the English Countryside,” recalls the composer's emotional reaction to the lush, pastoral beauty of the English countryside. "Stonehenge" reflects the austerity and timelessness of that ancient monument,  while “The Lady of Shalott” nods to Waterhouse’s colorful, pre-Raphaelite depiction of Tennyson’s famous poem. The symphony’s conclusion, “The Major Oak of Sherwood Forest,” celebrates the roughly 1000-year-old tree in Nottinghamshire and is perhaps the most climactic of Kurek’s works.

BALTIC SKETCHES by composer Scott Brickman is a collection of symphonic works inspired by Brickman’s Baltic and Slavic ancestry. The album features his Symphony No. 5, which draws on Latvian folk traditions, including folk dances, songs, and Lutheran liturgical music. It also includes Symphony No. 1, an exploration of neoclassical form influenced by contemporary socio-political events, including military conflict in the Middle East and the climate crisis. Symphony No. 6 for wind ensemble explores textural and timbral color and nods to the Lutheran chorale, In Dulci Jubilo. Blending classical forms with asymmetrical dance meters and folk melodies, Brickman’s BALTIC SKETCHES finds unexpected connections between time-honored traditions.

Saxophonist Adam Estes and pianist Adrienne Park share transcriptions of master works by Beethoven, Chaminade, Burhans, and Saint-Saëns on their LYRICAL BARITONE, VOL. 1. Borrowed from the flute, bassoon, and cello repertoires, this album celebrates this captivating music reimagined for baritone saxophone and piano duo. While the lowest note of the cello and the baritone saxophone is the same, the common playing range isn’t: the cello’s stretches an entire octave further, rendering literal transcriptions fiendishly difficult to play. This considerable challenge seems to pose no difficulty to Estes and Park at all: with great lightness and delicacy, they navigate calmly and confidently through even the most treacherous musical waters. A virtuosic feat and feast.

MIDDLE CHILD from multi-instrumentalist Teagan Faran confronts concepts of culture and identity through the music of Johannes Brahms’ Intermezzo Op. 118, no. 2, from 6 Klavierstücke along with the works of contemporary composers. Faran employs the Brahms intermezzo (rearranged for multi tracked violin choir) as a recurring motif; it reappears throughout the album, each time reimagined by a different artist in a different style. The album also features contributions from artists like Leilehua Lanzilotti and Jens Ibsen. Reflecting on her Cantonese-Irish heritage, as well as her own “middle child” status and her family’s connection to Hawai’i, Faran seeks a sense of belonging through the blending of past and present through this Navona Records release.

Water, as a concept, has a mystical quality: It is ever-changing, able to take on almost any form from trickle to deluge, and while at times intimidating and destructive, it is a prerequisite for the sustenance of life. The adventurous and virtuosic Canadian pianist Christina Petrowska Quilico, who championed Ann Southam's seminal water-inspired work Rivers, decided it was time for a continuation and commissioned a sequel from composer Frank Horvat: a suite of seven solo piano pieces titled MORE RIVERS. The idea was to bring Canadian minimalist music to Canadian audiences, but Petrowska Quilico and Horvat may well have exceeded their goal. With glimpses of impressionism, of Prokofievian harmonies and Pärtian spirit, textures reminiscent of Messiaen, and of course the pianist's impeccable interpretation, MORE RIVERS is wonderfully timeless and universal.

CONSTRAINTS/CREATIVITY considers the humanistic thread connecting disparate cultures across time and space. This collection of 10 original works from composer Kai-Young Chan sets ancient Chinese lyric poetry, contemporary literature, and religious texts to moving choral music. The journey begins with themes of longing and separation, vividly depicted in poems like Li Ch’ing-Chao’s “Seeking, Searching” and “Withering Blossoms, Fading Scent,” which depict imagery of scattered petals and autumnal decay. The collection also explores the solace found in nature and the resilience of hope, as in Su Tung-Po’s “Egrets around the Mountain” and “Beneath the Moonlight.” Concluding with Psalm 23, the music finds strength in life’s darkest moments.

Step into a musical world where tradition meets innovation in GALANTERIES, a groundbreaking collection of solo piano works from composer William C. White, brought to life by the brilliant young virtuoso Joseph Vaz. This album turns the traditional mentor-protégé dynamic on its head, as Vaz’s fervor for White’s music inspired the composer to craft these demanding and imaginative pieces specifically for his protégé’s remarkable talents. The music of GALANTERIES is a kaleidoscope of musical styles and influences, from Baroque elegance to Romantic drama to world folk traditions. In Vaz’s masterful hands, these pieces transcend their classical roots to create something entirely new — a perfect synthesis of composer’s vision and performer’s interpretation. The result is a collection of works so personally tailored to Vaz’s artistry that they feel less like compositions and more like musical effusions, making this album an extraordinary document of artistic collaboration at its most inspiring.

LOVE BADE ME WELCOME is a collection of choral music from composer J.A.C. Redford exploring spirituality, love, and the human experience. Blending traditional forms with contemporary harmonies and time-honored texts, Redford sets the poetry of Shakespeare, Gerard Manley Hopkins, George Herbert, and more. By employing distinctive gestures and a range of vocal timbres, the composer offers sensitive musical interpretations of each poem, from the serene resonance of The Singing Bowl to the Old Testament drama of Who Hears the Ocean Roaring in a Tree. In giving voice to these humanistic texts, LOVE BADE ME WELCOME is a compelling invitation to self-reflection.

The melting pot of American music has a rich history of bending and transforming genres, and Harry Bulow’s PIANO WORKS continues this tradition with expressively modern flair. Five pieces for piano explore the effects of time and play on compositions, showcasing how tweaks and changes to work over the years expose new elements, like a river carving through stone, revealing new layers of textures and vibrant colors. Bulow’s style draws from Copland, Beethoven, pop, jazz, and minimalism to create much more than an eclectic menagerie. PIANO WORKS thoughtfully captures a portrait of the composer’s catalog, spotlighting a fresh and vibrant sound honed by decades of experience and a serious knack for incorporating genre into new work.

The Sirius Quartet speaks past the veil in INCANTATIONS, a collection of nine works honoring memory, grief, and the aspect of loss as it appears in our interpersonal and social relationships. The music of INCANTATIONS is a speaking vessel to concentrate the profound loss experienced at the individual and communal level in recent decades into a great beyond, a release of grief for its composers, performers, and listeners alike. Exploring grief as it exists in political, cultural, and familial spaces, the Sirius Quartet commentates on the loss of loved ones as eloquently as it commentates on the loss of shared humanity in the great American political divide, or the devastating loss afflicted by unnecessary war. Pulling from various cultural diasporas, INCANTATIONS teaches a lesson in the universal language of loss, and the unique and beautiful ways we respond and adapt to it.

Navona Records is pleased to present SYMPHONIC STRADIVARIUS, featuring decorated violinist Davide Alogna and the esteemed London Symphony Orchestra. Several contemporary composers assemble in this release to showcase the diverse influences and creative capabilities of modern classical composition. Recorded at the historic LSO St. Lukes, this repertoire offers musical insight into the environmental aspects of our world, all united by a world class ensemble, celebrated soloist, and an instrument that has been passed down through centuries of lauded performers: a “1690s ‘Stevens’ Stradivari” belonging to the very first group of red varnished Violins ever made.

The Portland Youth Philharmonic debuts two new symphonies by acclaimed contemporary composers Lera Auerbach and Polina Nazaykinskaya on FIRST SYMPHONIES - PREMIERE RECORDINGS. Nazaykinskaya’s first symphony, April Song, exposes the tenacity of the human spirit, rich winter melodies blooming into the rumblings of a welcome spring storm as the overarching narrative depicts a triumphant rise from the ashes, defining the human experience. Defining and redefining is likewise no stranger to Auerbach, who encompasses both of these in Chimera, a symphony echoing themes and particularly adored motifs from her ballet The Little Mermaid. Chimera is a complex grafting of one idea onto the next, inspirations from Greek mythologies imposed onto a distinctly transformative sound. “Redefines” falls short of proper description. Auerbach reinvents, readjusts, rebuilds, and renews an entirely new musical existence.

Blending vocal and orchestral elements across several movements, cantatas are notoriously difficult to compose. Benjamin Perry Wenzelberg has accepted the challenge with ANY OF THOSE DECEMBERS, setting poems by Jeanne Minahan to music. The result is intimate, aesthetic, and wistful — a tender embrace of lyrics and sound.  Scored for four solo singers with varying accompaniments, ANY OF THOSE DECEMBERS impresses on multiple fronts. But it isn't due to the excellent source material alone: the master performers in Lyric Fest bring both the lyrics and the composition to life. A wonderful collaboration, in which the whole is even greater than the sum of its parts, Wenzelberg’s work is “a cantata to make memories sing.”