Australian composer Mark John McEncroe’s SYMPHONIC SUITES NUMBER 1 & 2 – A MEDIEVAL SAGA is a classic adventure in orchestral music. Powered by McEncroe’s thematic style, these two symphonic suites lead the listener through a harrowing and dramatic story of ancient conflict and grandeur. Like a film score from the Golden Age Of Hollywood, McEncroe’s musical ‘storytelling’ is made clear by his powerful melodic material, which conjures the sweeping shots of a classic epic film in the listener’s imagination. The premise of McEncroe’s suites also recalls classic techniques, though, in this case, McEncroe picks up the centuries-old tradition of programmatic composition. Dating to the third decade of the nineteenth century, ‘program music’ is a genre in which wordless musical works are written to tell stories. Sometimes, these narratives are simple, but many nineteenth and twentieth century programmatic compositions have multiple scenes and characters. McEncroe’s suites fall into this more specific type of piece, and both succeed in conveying this intense detail of the composer’s thirteen-part story. Like the great programmatic works of the Romantic era, McEncroe’s Symphonic Suites are driven by strong melodic ideas that represent the primary characters and events that populate the musical story. These themes are memorable, clear, and, most impressively, thread the needle of being distinct enough so the listener can mark the difference between different characters or scenes, but not so inconsistent in their character that the momentum of the narrative is disrupted or lost. McEncroe is gifted at using melody to convey the mood and stakes of every point in his story, even in scenes that are relatively chaotic, complex, and nuanced. To this end, the sequence of the “Rising Discontent” and “Peasants Uprising” movements from Symphonic Suite No. 1 epitomizes McEncroe’s ability to clearly communicate abstract concepts (i.e. economic anxiety boiling over into populist revolt) with wordless musical storytelling. The two works on the album tell closely related stories, and both use a similar style of programmatic composition, which provides and opportunity to closely compare the manner and detail of McEncroe’s musical storytelling McEncroe’s heavily thematic style is reminiscent of other nineteenth century narrative works (i.e. Richard Wagner’s operas) and film scores from the Golden Age Of Hollywood to the present

NOVA is the 27th edition of the acclaimed Society of Composers, Inc. CD Series and the 3rd SCI release on Navona. This entry features chamber works by 8 composers representing the highest quality work in a variety of compositional styles. On-disc enhanced content includes extended liner notes and study scores.

Ascend, the latest collaboration between Parma Recordings and the Society of Composers Inc., is an enthralling showcase of leading composers and performers from around the world. Featuring fantastic ensembles, and with works that reference far-flung locations and historical events, this album journeys fascinatingly through time and space as it compiles a competitively selected sample of today's best compositions. One of the joys of Ascend is the variety, which emerges from the album's aim to include the music of as many composers as possible. Listeners can look forward to a range of vocal and instrumental chamber works featuring instrumentations from solo clarinet to a large ensemble of strings, piano, and solo oboe. And, even though Ascend is a showcase of composers, the album's performances are spectacular, and feature some of teh world's leading soloists and ensembles; namely, the famed Jack Quartet, which is broadly considered one of, if not, the best string quartets with a contemporary music focus in the United States. Renowned for their joyous embrace of the most intense aspects of avant garde aesthetics, the work Jack performs - Joungmin Lee's Vexatious - is one of the most vibrant on the album. Thriving at the extremities of the string quartet's sonic language, Vexatious is a visceral and dramatic composition given an outstanding an dastounding performance on Ascend. Other remarkable works include Patrick Houlahin's snoqualmie Passages, for piano and alto saxophone, Paul SanGregory's Shining Through Cracks, for oboe and ensemble, and Aaron Alon's stunning art song, Dulce Et Decorum Est. All three share tremendous melodic writing and storytelling through the conversation of melody and accompaniment. Certainly, this characteristic comes across most clearly and compellingly in Alon's Dulce Et Decorum Est, a setting of Wilfred Owen's poem of the same name illustrating the attrition and terrors faced by infantry in World War One. Scored for baritone and string quartet, Alon's music is both heartbreakingly beautiful and intensely variegated, conveying the gritty detail of the text along with the innocence and sentimentality of the soldiers it depicts, men who left home with the hope of seizing glory only to find the filth and horror of trench warfare.

SIRIUS, presents 3 orchestral works by Van der Roost: Sirius, a bright overture commissioned by de Nieuwe Veste; Sinfonia Per Orchestra, a four-movement cyclical piece commissioned by the Lemmensinstituut in Leuven; and Manhattan Pictures, a colorful piece evoking the multi-cultural atmosphere of Manhattan.

This is an exciting new album bundle of five previously released albums from Navona Records. What Are They Doing To That Piano? features composers and artists dedicated to finding the most adventurous and compelling sounds that the piano has to offer. Opening with works composed by John Cage, the virtual godfather of prepared piano, and performed by the virtuosic Kate Boyd, this bundle contains one of the most eclectic collections of solo piano music a listener will ever encounter. Ice & Fire, first released in 2013 by Navona Records, features six compositions by Stephen Scott for the Bowed Piano Ensemble, including Afternoon of a Fire, written for bowed piano and improvised native american flute in memory of a wildfire that occurred in his native Colorado. The album also includes experimental works that interpret the concept of drones, a piece with five miniatures for bowed piano, and Scott's first written piece for voice and bowed piano. Originally released on Ravello Records in 2016, 16-2-60-N-5: Works for Electronics & Piano, by composer and pianist Sidney Bailin, shows how musical technique can exist solely to help him tell his secrets. A combination of piano and electroacoustic works, 16-2-60-N-5 transforms patterns and structures into a viscerally and emotionally gripping sound experience. Felt, a compilation for solo piano first offered by Navona Records in 2015, presents the works of a number of composers including Matthew Durrant and Byron Petty. With each composer comes a subtly different perception of what the piano is capable, a degree of variation that presents itself repeatedly in the kaleidoscopic collection of pieces included on this release. On An Evolving Cycle, Gheorghe Costinescu's second Ravello Records album, first released in 2013, the composer explores the manner in which keyboard idioms evolved from Baroque to 21st-century contemporary, charting the evolution of form and technique with a deft control of style. Throughout this collection, the composers and performers run the gamut of stylistic and physical variations possible for the piano and its repertoire. It seems only fitting that these albums would ultimately be combined into a single compendium of the piano at its finest, and we are pleased to finally offer, in collected form, What Are They Doing To That Piano?

Shakespeare's Memory is the first offering in Navona’s Shakespeare Concerts Series. Vol. 1 includes Summer’s original chamber and vocal compositions set to Shakespeare’s dramas and sonnets and the poetry of Milton and Yeats, performed by a variety of groups and musicians.

Schlumpf: Streams

Composer Sarah Wallin Huff’s debut solo Navona release explores the relationships between mechanical structures, organic beauty and identity. Her string quartet Anima Mechanicae: Soul of the Machine is a reimagining of minimalist techniques. Courage Triptych is a cinematic suite of “images,” while Adoré transforms the hymn “My Tribute” by Andraé Crouch. Gypsy Wanderer is a study of patterns, colors and formula. Counterpoint Invariable illustrates that mechanical designs can produce emotive beauty.

John A. Carollo’s newest release, The Transfiguration of Giovanni Baudino, is a fascinating mixture of music written for different orchestral instrumentations and with wildly varying intended emotional responses. The composer himself may best define the intangible aspect of his music’s emotive intentions, writing, “I have always preferred to let music speak for itself. We each derive our own unique personal meanings from our listening experiences and most of it is felt viscerally.” The visceral is, in the case of much of the music presented on this release, never far away. Carollo’s writing for strings in the five movements of The Rhetoric and Mythos of Belief emphasizes the tremulous and melodic, yielding a varied but consistently inspired musical color palette. Throughout this lengthy work the hues of the string ensemble sound tend toward the amber, allowing the luster and huskiness of the lower voices to often become a focal point. In these lush textures, slowly unfolding melodic materials easily maintain primacy of placement, and the many harmonic voices of the ensemble combine in a refined coherency. Likewise, the works presented on The Transfiguration of Giovanni Baudino featuring full orchestra each, in turn, define their own aural landscapes. The title track is defined by scampering, freewheeling melodic materials that make their way throughout the instruments of the orchestra. Skirting the edges of tonality, the piece takes full advantage of the many timbres and orchestral coloring that can be achieved by a large ensemble. This, like Carollo’s other works, has a structural resiliency that both embraces and simultaneously defies the melodic and harmonic materials that constitute it. It can be hard to paint the six works making up The Transfiguration of Giovanni Baudino with a single brush. Do You Have an E.R. for Music?, another orchestral work, couldn’t be farther in emotional intention or impact from The Rhetoric and Mythos of Belief, yet somehow the two pieces exist admirably as separate sides of a single coin in this collection of Carollo’s works. The composer’s dexterous control of the orchestra shines on this release, and the impassioned playing of the Moravian Philharmonic Orchestra, under the direction of Petr Vronský, only accentuates the sheer strength of Carollo’s compositions. Ampersand, Carollo’s first CD was awarded ‘Best Classical CD’ at the 10th Annual Hawaii Music Awards Ceremony in 2006. The Transfiguration of Giovanni Baudino marks two Parma Recordings milestones. It is the 500th Parma album released and is also Parma’s first album to be simultaneously released on vinyl. Carollo was a participant in Parma Recordings’ groundbreaking November 2015 recording session in Havana, Cuba. His Burlesque was featured on the June 2016 album Abrazo: The Havana Sessions. The composer’s musical training included studies with Dr. Robert Wehrman. Before retiring to compose fulltime, Carollo had a long career as a mental health professional for the state of Hawaii, having received a master’s degree in Clinical Psychology from San Diego State University. Of past Carollo album Starry Night for String Orchestra a reviewer wrote, “This is a starry night with meteors and perhaps an exploding star in the midst of it!”

Navona Records showcases sacred and secular choral works by composer Jonathan Little on its latest release, Woefully Arrayed. Jonathan Little's work has been described as ''a music redolent of the past and the future.'' His modern interpretations of Renaissance and Baroque techniques of composition - such as model harmonies and isorhythm - form the basis of his musical voice. The sound is strikingly contemporary, yet also intertwined with choral traditions of the past. Several of these beautiful and moving settings of profound and poignant texts feature intricate ''polychoral'' techniques: multi-part, multi-divisi, solo, echo and spatial effects. Many of Little's choral works are designed to be performed cori spezzati - a technique with which different sections of the choir are arranged above and around the audience, adding another dimension to the listening experience. One of these pieces is his Kyrie for 21 individual voices, performed by the Thomas Tallis Society Choir. The other works featured on the album are all world premieres. Vox Futura of Boston performs a Gloria to accompany the Kyrie. They also perform the extensive, rapturous title track Woefully Arrayed, from text attributed to John Skelton. The Stanbery Singers perform on the secular section of the album, which includes That Time of Year - a madrigal-like setting of Shakespeare's Sonnet 73 - as well as Wasted and Worn, which is dedicated to the memory of the neglected neo-classical artist John William Godward. Vox Futura returns to round out the album with a reprise of the secular verses of Woefully Arrayed.

Navona Records is proud to present TOMORROW’S AIR, a collection of contemporary music for large ensemble, written by composers in a variety of styles and genres. Listeners will recognize several names as PARMA regulars, including Daniel Perttu, Hans Bakker, and Paul Osterfield. The album opens with Hilary Tann’s Anecdote for solo cello and orchestra. Inspired by Wallace Stevens’s nature musings in his poem “Anecdote of the Jar,” the work casts the cello solo as a soliloquy, its message elaborated and transformed by wilder orchestral textures. Hans Bakker’s Cantus follows, an intriguing and expressive work for string orchestra. The intimate drama of Cantus is contrasted by mystery and majesty in Daniel Perttu’s lyrical overture To Spring. Written in honor of his daughters, To Spring was inspired by William Blakes poetic ode of the same name. In his profoundly emotional string orchestra piece In Memoriam, Jan Järvlepp honors the memory of his late brother—conforming to no style or influence but that of his own intense grief. Following In Memoriam is Pierre Schroeder’s Late Harvest, a lush, emotional work for strings, clarinet, and piano that forms a part of his eleven-movement magnum opus Voyage. Closing the album is Paul Osterfield’s concertante wind ensemble piece Silver Fantasy, a vibrant celebration of the flute and piccolo with lyrical melodies, dynamic rhythmic energy, and Ivesian pastiche. Together, the works that make up TOMORROW’S AIR encompass a wide spectrum of emotion and drama. Welsh composer Hilary Tann’s “beautiful, lyrical” music is strongly influenced by the natural world. She is a published haiku poet and her compositions have been widely commissioned, recorded, and broadcast by ensembles such as Tenebrae, Cappella Clausura, Marsyas Trio, Thai Philharmonic, and BBC National Orchestra of Wales. Her recent choral music can be heard on the Narvona Records release EXULTET TERRA (NV6069). Dutch composer Hans Bakker has written music for chamber groups, orchestra, carillon, and choir, including the choir cycle Prasasti. He has been featured on Navona Records albums eight times, most recently appearing with Peter Greve on LINES TO INFINITY (NV6070). Daniel Perttu’s neo-romantic music has been praised for “blending mystery, action, and excitement.” His works have been performed at numerous festivals, concerts, and conferences on four continents and in more than thirty states across America. He is currently Associate Professor at Westminster College. Perttu’s music has appeared on five Navona Records albums, most recently on PINNACLE (NV6022). Canadian composer Jan Järvlepp identifies strongly with postmodern musical styles, writing music that is accessible to many audiences. He is active in his home city of Ottawa, having received premieres by the Ottawa Symphony Orchestra (Garbage Concerto) and the Ottawa Chamber Music Festival (Pierrot Solaire). Music by French-American composer Pierre Schroeder has been said to have an emotional, cinematic style. He is an active composer of classical chamber music and jazz, with credit in films and soundtracks, most notably of the documentary “America the Bountiful.” His large work Voyage can be heard on Navona Records’s VOYAGE (NV6000). Paul Osterfield’s music has been performed in Europe and the United States, by ensembles including Ascendo3, the Great Noise Ensemble, the Blakemore Trio, and numerous university wind ensembles. He has won numerous awards, and has been a fellow at the MacDowell Colony. Osterfield has been featured on several PARMA albums, including SOUND AND FURY (NV5978) on Navona Records.

Lauded for his "crackling style" (NewMusicBox) and called "compellingly original" (Boston Phoenix) and "both humorous and unsettling" (WGBH), Vines presents "Torrid Nature Scenes"-a series of musical landscapes that instill anxiety and ebullience in the listener. Includes extended liner notes, author readings of the original poems, study scores and more.

Like a good story, the composers featured on "Spellbound" transport the listener across landscapes only limited by the imagination. These new works for orchestra behave as narrative arches, allowing tension and emotion to build and release to a euphoric conclusion or a haunting realization.

Cascading in Reverie presents a series works showcasing Ramette's penchant for writing harmonically and rhythmically driven music. Pianist Eric Himy-whose playing has been lauded for it's "extraordinary richness" (BBC Music Magazine) and "infallible power and intensity" (Washington Post)-interprets Ramette's works with creativity and finely honed technique.

Spells, a new retrospective collection highlighting the music of poet and composer Juli Nunlist, marks a touching journey through the earnest, romantic, and dramatic sounds of the late artist's compositional language. The album's works demonstrate Nunlist's appreciation for tradition and grandeur, and are driven by her remarkable gift for melody and clear fascination with instrumental texture. Nunlist's literary background seems to inform the potency of the album's vocal works, including the intimate a cappella choral arrangement on the title track, a choral setting of six poems by the English poet Kathleen Raine; and the epic Six Chansons from Prières dans l'arches, for vocal soloists and orchestra. Though these pieces feature contrasting instrumentations, they both display the composer's effortless text setting and brilliantly sensitive orchestration. In each, her compelling writing brings the given text to life, and activates the nuance of its narrative and symbolism with intricate vocal an dinstrumental arrangements. To this end, Spells uses subtle melodic, harmonic, and textural recurrences to convey an enveloping and somewhat cyclical form. The Six Chansons, on the other hand, build vast sonic wonderlands, imaged through Nunlist's incredible command of orchestral space and density. Each of the Chansons pairs vocalists and a large instrumental ensemble, with some of the work's most compelling moments arising from these unique and highly exposed pairings, such as solo mezzo-soprano and celeste. The album's romantic centerpiece arrives with Nunlist's String Quartet, a piece which hearkens back to the genre's seminal nineteenth century masterpiece with its captivating melodies and gripping subversions of functional harmony. Moreover, in a structural sense. Nunlist's String Quartet is one of the most impressive works on Spells, especially in its dramatic closing movement. In the final moments of this piece, the music refuses to repose, and, on the strength of a new theme, the quartet gains energy and determination. This surprising turn in the work's formal trajectory is unquestionably meaningful, and seems to demonstrate a fearless quality in Nunlist's compositional perspective.