Harmony of Dissonance
Catalog #: NV6255
Release Date: October 25, 2019
21st CenturyJazzVocal MusicChoirLarge EnsemblePianoHARMONY OF DISSONANCE brings together, juxtaposes, and intertwines the disparate singing styles of the regions of Dalmatia, which remain stylistically and performatively distant even today. While these musical worlds present seemingly irreconcilable musical and cultural differences, they are all connected by polyphonic singing, which forms the core of this collaboration between the Harmonija Dissonance Ensemble and the Jazz Orchestra of the Academy of Music in Zagreb.
Daytime & Night Songs
Catalog #: NV6256
Release Date: October 25, 2019
21st CenturyChamberVocal MusicCelloGuitarVoiceComposer Mira J. Spektor presents both sensitivity and passion in her new album DAYTIME & NIGHT SONGS. She combines masterful, original compositions with thought-provoking poetry written by a number of artists.
Quadrants Vol 3
Catalog #: NV6239
Release Date: July 12, 2019
21st CenturyChamberString QuartetThe works of the eight composers on QUADRANTS 3 display both the broad scope of styles and energies that the string quartet can produce, while also highlighting the individual talents of each artist. The resident ensemble for QUADRANTS 3, Altius Quartet, who take their name from the Olympic motto: Citius, Altius, Fortius (Faster, Higher, Stronger), handles each piece with skill and flair.
The Arc in the Sky
Catalog #: NV6240
Release Date: July 12, 2019
21st CenturyVocal MusicChoirMultiple Grammy Award-winning chamber choir The Crossing moves listeners with their new release THE ARC IN THE SKY, a breathtaking performance of the eponymous work by accomplished choral composer Kile Smith. Based on texts by Robert Lax (1915–2000), it constitutes an American pilgrimage into spirituality.
Lachlan Skipworth
Catalog #: NV6241
Release Date: August 9, 2019
21st CenturyChamberClarinetPianoViolinCan you satisfy God with one sound? This question was repeatedly posed to Lachlan Skipworth by his shakuhachi teacher during a three-year period of intensive study in Japan. It sparked a deep exploration of cross-cultural aesthetics that finds expression in this self-titled Navona Records album. At the beginning of each shakuhachi lesson, student and master begin by repeatedly playing a single note on the end-blown bamboo flute. This focuses their minds on core questions of technique: “have I made progress? Am I closer to mastery of this, shakuhachi’s most fundamental note?”
Resonating Colours 5
Catalog #: NV6242
Release Date: July 26, 2019
21st CenturyChamberSolo InstrumentalBrass EnsemblePianoViolinWong Hok-yeung opens the Hong Kong Composers’ Guild’s RESONATING COLOURS 5 with Night Poem, a composition for cello and piano. Rhapsodic and ambling, the piece conjures nightly thoughts, welling up and vanishing with lifelike authenticity. Chan Chin-ting features with two pieces for solo violin: Cross-Currents, an exploration of the violin's full tonal range, and Postcards, an assortment of, in the composer's words, "six miniatures/musical gifts," which, quite like the name suggests, can be played as standalone pieces, but also feature a common theme that unites them.
Patterns
Catalog #: NV6243
Release Date: August 9, 2019
21st CenturyChamberSolo InstrumentalCelloGuitarPercussionPATTERNS, a multi-composer compilation of contemporary chamber music, accentuates the richness, intricacy, and minimal sound that can be found in works written for small ensembles. Included on the album are works by seven composers, each offering a distinct interpretation of what defines the genre.
Preach Sister, Preach
Catalog #: NV6244
Release Date: August 9, 2019
21st CenturyVocal MusicPianoVoicePREACH SISTER, PREACH showcases award-winning Katherine Jolly’s “agile, bright lyric soprano” voice (The New York Times) on a series of pieces that are distinctively individual in their inspiration while cohesively united by the passions of their composers.
Windswept
Catalog #: NV6245
Release Date: August 9, 2019
21st CenturyChamberWind EnsembleThroughout Navona Records’ WINDSWEPT, the wind quintet makes up the characters of collective stories written by five unique composers. In each piece, the Boston-based Arcadian Winds project a storytelling experience that is joyful, moving, and meaningful to hear.
In Heaven
Catalog #: NV6228
Release Date: May 24, 2019
21st CenturyLiturgicalVocal MusicChoirOrganThe Jitro Czech Girls Choir, under the leadership of conductor and music director Jiří Skopal, presents yet another vivid exploration of the depths of traditional Czechoslovakian music on their fourth release with Navona, JITRO IN HEAVEN. The tone for the album is set by Liturgical Chants, five pieces which express the spiritual and musical code of European culture. These pieces are composed by Petr Eben, an icon of 20th-century Czech music.
Direct Contact
Catalog #: NV6229
Release Date: May 24, 2019
20th Century21st CenturySolo InstrumentalPianoPianist Roberta Rust brings her own unique dynamism to the works of eight composers with whom she has had direct contact over the years. Dedicated to her late mother and step-daughter, this collection is as personal and touching as it is memorable for the broader audience.
Prisma Vol. 2
Catalog #: NV6232
Release Date: May 24, 2019
21st CenturyOrchestralFluteGuitarOrchestraNavona Records proudly presents PRISMA VOL. 2, an epic journey into the world of the large ensemble with five of today’s top contemporary composers. This collection demonstrates the diversity of the orchestral and concerto composition, both in instrumentation and emotion.
Falling Pieces
Catalog #: NV6233
Release Date: June 14, 2019
21st CenturyChamberPianoDaniel Ott, who holds degrees in Composition from both the Curtis Institute of Music and the Juilliard School, and currently serves on the faculty of the latter, is not only expertly familiar with the piano duet as a genre, but also harbors a very personal link to it: The piano duo who performs the works on the album, Karen and Jeffrey Savage of 88SQUARED , are close friends of Ott from university days.
String Quartets 1, 2, & 3
Catalog #: NV6234
Release Date: June 14, 2019
20th Century21st CenturyChamberString QuartetWith her richly diverse background and commissions from the BBC Proms and The Royal Opera, one would expect that composer Eleanor Alberga’s Navona Records release would be nothing short of a showstopper. It is just that and more. The three pieces on her STRING QUARTETS 1, 2 & 3 offer a penetrating view into Alberga’s creative genius. The album pulls the absolute best from the gifted Ensemble Arcadiana.
Piano Quartets 1 & 2
Catalog #: NV6235
Release Date: June 14, 2019
21st CenturyChamberCelloPianoViolaIt’s almost hard to believe that Andrew Anderson hails from Australia, given how deeply rooted he seems to be in the European High-Romantic tradition. The first quartet in particular is profoundly reminiscent of the virtuoso chamber works of Dussek and Hummel, with a dash of Dvořák for good measure. And yet, its sound is decidedly modern. Not only is the work stunningly well-proportioned, it effortlessly adheres to the classical sonata form – not in a rigid, miniaturized way of imitation, but completely naturally, as if it could only exist in this way and no other.
Summer & Winter Songs
Catalog #: NV6236
Release Date: June 14, 2019
21st CenturyVocal MusicPianoVoiceHailed by the New York Times as "An interesting composer” and "attractive and tonal" with music described as "a passionate duet “ and "a sprightly songfest,” prolific contemporary composer Mira J. Spektor’s career spans decades, languages, and disciplines. With a compositional repertoire including chamber operas, musicals, film scores, art songs, and cabaret, Spektor has written English, French, and German songs and performed and recorded in the United States, Europe, and Israel. She is also a published poet and brings her wealth of knowledge, experience, and musical passion to her Navona Records debut SUMMER & WINTER SONGS.
Moto Quarto
Catalog #: NV6237
Release Date: July 12, 2019
21st CenturyChamberString QuartetAcclaimed international piano trio Trio Casals makes a triumphant return with the fourth installment of Navona Records' MOTO series, zestfully interpreting nine new American compositions – virtually all of them either tailor-made or arranged for the ensemble. The opening track, Three for Three by David Nisbet Stewart, could almost be considered a neoclassical piano trio – if you're thinking along the lines of Prokofiev's Love for Three Oranges. Like his Russian predecessor, Stewart chose to endow his composition with a perspicacious structure, along which the motives and modulations climb like vines on a trellis.
Three Scenes
Catalog #: NV6238
Release Date: July 12, 2019
21st CenturyChamberBrass EnsemblePercussionSaxophoneAward-winning composer Elliott McKinley’s music has been performed throughout the United States, Canada, and Europe. On THREE SCENES, he presents three powerful pieces of modern chamber music of the caliber that has earned him global recognition.
Evolutionary Spirits
Catalog #: NV6218
Release Date: June 28, 2019
21st CenturyVocal MusicChoirEVOLUTIONARY SPIRITS brings together the artistry of Grammy Award-winning chamber choir The Crossing with innovative works of six contemporary composers. Ranging from songs of praise from the Biblical era to present day, and from contemporary poetry to the reimagining of a Shakespearean sonnet, EVOLUTIONARY SPIRITS explores humanity in all its facets.
3 Rhapsodies
Catalog #: NV6219
Release Date: March 22, 2019
21st CenturyConcertosOrchestralEast AsianOrchestraPianoIt is tempting to compare Matej Meštrović's compositional style to his great predecessors in the late-Romantic tradition. After all, much of the Croatian composer's style and techniques would be right at home in Rachmaninoff’s concertos, Tchaikovsky's works, or Prokofiev's neoclassicism; and the name of the album's first work, Danube Rhapsody, naturally evokes associations with Smetana's similarly river-themed Vltava. Add to all of this that Meštrović, like most of his great musical ancestors, is a talented virtuoso pianist, and it's easy to see why 3 RHAPSODIES is bound to meet with enthusiasm.