For centuries, writers have documented the awe brought about by the pristine wilderness and untamed expanses of the American Midwest and West. Three authors in particularRalph Waldo Emerson, Walt Whitman, and Emily Dickinsonbeautifully documented the boundless optimism and sense of opportunity that the countrys vast natural resources inspired and heralded a new era of American thought. On TRANSPARENT BOUNDARIES, the three visionaries words are set to music to give their poetic works musical life. Soprano Jamie-Rose Guarrine and bass-baritone Seth Keeton deftly lead the charge on a series of artsongs, accompanied by pianists Lara Bolton and Scott Gendel and cellist Karl Knapp. Guarrines vocal elegance and innate lyricism naturally lend themselves to the vivid simplicity and inward reflection of Dickinson, and Keetons lower register captures the direct ruggedness of Whitman. To express the duality of Emerson, the pair come together for a duo to capture the authors ability to view all things at once in a single picture of beauty. By adding to the repertoire of contemporary artsong, TRANSPARENT BOUNDARIES honors the legacy of historic writings and brings their sentiment back to the foreground of American thought, ushering in a newfound sense of hope and optimism for the 21st century.

Composer 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. Poetry is a key element of the album. Spektor draws influence from a variety of writers, such as Phyllis McGinley and Ruth Whitman. One of the more fascinating collaborations is Spektor’s composition using the words of her granddaughter, 11-year-old Lily Nussbaum. On the album’s second track Quiet, Nussbaum’s vision is mature. Coupled with the sophisticated performance of the piano, most listeners would be in disbelief at the writer’s youth. Three of the songs contain poems in French, a language which, alongside English and German, Spektor frequently writes in. La Complainte De Rutebeuf (The Complaint of Rutebeuf) was written by the French trouvère (poet-composer) Rutebeuf in the 13th Century. Emerveillement (Wonderment) is derived from a poem written by a mistress of famed poet Paul Verlaine. The third French song, Il Neige Dans Mon Coeur (It’s Snowing in My Heart) is a poem Spektor herself wrote while she was trapped in a snow storm, drawing beauty and melancholy both directly and metaphorically out of a disastrous situation. The album varies stylistically throughout. Songs like Sunday Psalm and Quiet intertwine passionate mezzo-soprano vocals and delicate piano melodies to create two sprightful compositions that open the album. In songs like The Phoenix and Aubade, Spektor incorporates flute and cello, adding new dimensions to the operatic vocals. Most of the songs are brief, hovering more or less around two minutes. Yet within the brevity of the time, Spektor does not spare a second in creating beautiful relationship between the vocals and the instrumentation. Like reading and rereading poems, the more times you listen to the songs, the more you welcome the encrypted beauty of the songs into your world.

The Grammy-winning professional chamber choir The Crossing, Al-Bustan Seeds of Culture, and Navona Records present WORDS ADORNED. Conducted by Donald Nally, with Takht musical direction by Hanna Khoury, the combined forces interpret lush scores from Kinan Abou-afach and Kareem Roustom; the music is at times driven and passionate, at others mystical and lyrical, responding to ancient Andalusian poetry in the Muwashshah tradition. The takht – masterfully handling the oud, qanun, violin, cello, and percussion – guides the kaleidoscopic sounds and colors in these poems of love, revelry, and war, with additional solo work by the virtuosic singer Dalal Abu Amneh. True to their commitment to honor tradition while constantly blazing new ground, The Crossing’s latest offering is steeped in history, deeply relevant to modern listeners, and bridges cultures seamlessly.

Composer Carl Vollrath returns to Navona Records with THE UNFOLDING FLUTE, a collection of contemporary chamber works showcasing his years of experience writing for flute. Vollrath unfolds his talents piece by piece through the performances of acclaimed flutist Dieter Flury and pianist Ieva Osa. THE UNFOLDING FLUTE covers a wide span of Vollrath’s composing career. The album begins with a piece written during his time as a student in the mid-20th Century. This Concert Piece for flute and piano was written when Vollrath was delving into the relationship of thirds with guidance from his educator, Dr. John Boda. The piece ebbs and flows in energy, from soft to heightened and back again. The Glass of Absinthe, written later on in Vollrath’s teaching career, was inspired by Edgar Degas’s Impressionist painting of the same name. The melancholic opening reflects the colors and strokes that make up Degas’s French cafe and pale female subject with her drink. The piece unfolds through moments of agile, almost frantically rapid successions of notes before descending back into quiet reflection. Sonata for Piano and Flute, written in three movements in fast-slow-fast order, was written to display the skills of its performer, and Flury’s dynamic performances are up to the task. THE UNFOLDING FLUTE concludes with Absolution, a fitting wrap to the album which the composer himself describes best: “Absolution is about our growing old and coming to the conclusion that all there is left is forgiveness.” THE UNFOLDING FLUTE is a triumph spanning decades, truly reflecting how Vollrath’s compositional abilities, though notable from the start, have developed over the years. Enjoy this timeline of a great contemporary composer in his element.

Despite the frequent crescendos to the sonic peaks of each composition, Renmen Laments is an exploration into the valleys of the soul. For most, creating art in the realm of somber moods poses challenges. For the Renaissance Men, the melancholic nature of their musical exploration is not only achieved individually but shared amongst the talents of the vocalists. The Renaissance Men approach these compositions with conviction. Darius Milhaud’s Psaume 121 is no less expressive without the brass fanfare that listeners are used to. Between the powerful bass and towering high tenor, the Renaissance Men breathe life into the song, evoking emotions that only the human voice can bring to a listener. The Renaissance Men pay homage to compositions including Pablo Casal’s O Vos Omnes; Patricia Van Ness’ Psalm 3; and The Lamentations of Jeremiah by Thomas Tallis; among others. The ensemble approaches these compositions with the finesse employed by their composers. Compositions written by instrumental performers are translated by the choir, reimagining the intricacies of the string instruments with the rich power of the human vocals. But power also comes in the words expressed through composition. The religious text communicated by the choir tells tales of sorrow and faith, and of lessons found in the Old Testament. There is a holy aura reminiscent in the Renaissance Men’s music, and the result is an album that is magnetic in the enlightened lament.

The 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 album begins with Bruce Babcock’s The Present Moment. Richly harmonic, the piece is filled with themes that develop and recur like memories changing over time. Nora Morrow presents her uplifting, motivic Rose Moon, sonically emulating the image of a rose blooming with a touch of sentimentality. This is followed by Gary Smart’s Three Fantasies, intertwining American jazz, European classical, and African American traditions to create a unique “bluesy” string quartet performance. Jonathan Newmark’s witty Tom Dooley without the fringe on top, written as a speedwriting exercise, features musical ideas from a couple of popular tunes, while Alastair White’s Two Panels, a brisk, atonal composition, expresses the composer’s desire to overcome the way we perceive time, identity, and authenticity. Janice Macaulay’s Three Pieces for String Quartet creates dynamic, lyrical, and playful interactions among the players, while the dramatic Picasso’s Flight presents a narrative about composer Beth Mehocic’s African Grey parrot, Picasso, and his failed attempts at flying. QUADRANTS 3 concludes with Phelps Dean Witter’s String Quartet No. 4, a piece filled with building emotion and volume — so moving in fact that it is hard to believe the composer came up with this piece on the way to the grocery store. The QUADRANTS series introduces what’s on the ground floor of new string quartet music. From atonality, dissonance, and brisk, almost violent bowings, to longer, more expressive notes and tender moments of tonality and rich harmonies, the album balances tradition with innovation all while carving a space in the repertoire of modern string quartet music.

In an age accustomed to three-minute pop songs being the norm, does the world need more full-length symphonies? Yes, says New Zealand Canadian John Robertson with his new release, SYMPHONY NO 4 & 5. Like their predecessors, these orchestral works make no sacrifices in terms of scale and style: they aim to be grand, aesthetic compositions, and are intended to be enjoyed as such. Symphony No. 4 and Symphony No. 5 bear the opus numbers 73 and 76, respectively – quite a feat, and even more impressive when one considers that composing wasn't Robertson's primary career. Instead, young Robertson had made the sensible choice to go into the insurance business. Nonetheless, the desire to invent music stuck. A competition win in 1987 eventually cemented this pastime as a worthwhile pursuit. Like Robertson's previous symphonies, No. 4 and No. 5 exhibit a strong adherence to a kind of neoclassical aesthetic, with influences of 20th-century composers sprinkled throughout. Unlike the previous orchestral works, however, these later symphonies are darker, more mature, more mysterious and generally more collected. Nestled in between is Meditation: In Flanders Fields, op. 70, a poem colored by long, winding symphonic lines and nebulous harmonies. It's a clever choice both in terms of style and content, working perfectly as a musical palate cleanser between the larger symphonic pieces. Together, these works represent more than the sum of their parts: they aren't just unrelated compositions, but an apt snapshot of Robertson's later oeuvre.

British composer Robert Hugill’s new release QUICKENING is an enthralling and intimate showcase of contemporary art song. Across the album, Hugill demonstrates an exceptional sensitivity to text and melody, both of which shine through his clear and lyrical musical language. The four sets of songs on the album are consummate modern lieder, and one can easily imagine hearing them at a private vocal recital alongside the Romantic song cycles of the nineteenth century. Hugill’s songs employ a classic approach to vocal writing, and are defined by smooth melodies and supportive accompaniments that establish the setting for the text and vocalist. To this end, Hugill works with fascinating texts on this album, many of which lead to interesting and unusual musical structures. An excellent example of this is the song, “To His Love”, from the set Four Songs to Texts by Ivor Gurney. Here, instead of fitting the poetry to a traditional song form, Hugill composes something more closely representative of the text’s narrative, resulting in the sudden quieting of the piano so the song’s last lines are sung in as intimate a setting as possible. The album’s titular work, Quickening, stands out both for its defined form and its instrumentation of mezzo-soprano, viola, and piano. The songs in Quickening flow continuously from one to another, and, with the addition of the accompanying viola, Hugill is able to exploit a variety of textures that are inaccessible in his songs for voice and piano. There is also an attractive lightness to Hugill’s writing for mezzo-soprano, which makes the sound world of the song cycle more inviting. Throughout QUICKENING, both Hugill’s music and the performances of baritone Johnny Herford, violist Rosalind Ventris, mezzo-soprano Anna Huntley, and pianist William Vann convey the essential delicacy and intimacy of a salon-style vocal recital. As a result, the listener cannot help but walk into the world of each song cycle and dream of hearing them in a homey space of their own. Hugill’s songs mark the modern extension of the nineteenth century lieder, art songs that should be in one’s home. Consider the intimacy of these works and the kinds of spaces they evoke. Hugill’s songs respond to there individual texts, so consider the changes in mood and structure across each of the album’s song cycles, as informed by the specific songs’ texts. A striking feature of this album are the settings of the contemporary poems by Rowan Williams, the former Archbishop of Canterbury.

Navona Records proudly presents PRISMA VOL. 2, an epic journey into the world of the large ensemble with five of today’s top contemporary composers. PRISMA 2 opens with two debuts: James Lentini’s stunning first release with PARMA Recordings, and the Zagreb Festival Orchestra’s first project on the Navona label. Lentini’s Concerto for Guitar and Strings, performed with the string orchestra by virtuoso guitar soloist Iliana Matos, begins with a fresh and buoyant motive that serves as a foundation for the entire movement. Orchestra and guitar converse back and forth as the piece moves through a melancholic, reflective second movement, and then rises back to full energy with the brisk final movement. This is followed by Rain Worthington’s Full Circle, a somewhat dissonant, striking piece with the Moravian Philharmonic Orchestra that follows the emergence and recession of emotions through a lifetime, as soloists emerge and recede from the orchestra. Jan Järvlepp’s Camerata Music, is a bright, tonal piece in a style that the composer calls “post-academic.” Inspired by the vallenato styles of folk music that Järvlepp heard while visiting Colombia, Camerata Music uses percussion to capture the joyous, rhythmic energy of that musical tradition. Peter Castine’s Aperture takes the album in a more somber direction with unsettled dissonance and fragmented feeling, filled with the horror following the 2001 World Trade Center attacks. The composer sets the solo flute and concertino string quartet at odds with one another, clashing even as the orchestra sometimes intervenes to help. PRISMA 2 is brought to a close with composer Beth Mehocic’s Left of Winter, written as a prelude to Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring. It has the same primal rhythms as Stravinsky’s ballet, but with the addition of cymbals, trumpets, and winds that paint the image of young men going off to war.

The Crossing has partnered with composer Kile Smith on several uniquely idiomatic works, spanning nearly a decade. But Navona Records’ THE ARC IN THE SKY, Smith’s 2018 setting of journal entries and poems of Robert Lax, is epic - an hour-long tour de force of thought and feeling that traverses topics ranging from Louis Armstrong to Jack Kerouac, and from Jerusalem to the shores of the island of Patmos. The enigmatic Robert Lax presents a fascinating aggregate of paradoxes: friend to Thomas Merton and the Beat poets; urbane yet reclusive; at times whimsical, at others blissful. Smith’s music for unaccompanied choir meets these words fearlessly, building great waves of majestic sound next to fragile threads of contemplation, with a broad spectrum of musical and poetic influences based on Lax’s varied interests and life experiences. The work begins with the ecstasy of Jazz – to Lax, a metaphor for life – born of his early days in New York City; the extraordinary close to the third movement is like a revival meeting. The middle section, Praise, subtly calibrates between the panoramic temple and the little things. The final section, Arc, reflects the culminations of Lax’s personal and poetic voyage: a mixture of calm observation and awe, captured by Smith in simple, overlapping canons and broad, double-choir brush strokes of sound with rich harmonies building to an unparalleled climax. THE ARC IN THE SKY is a formidable example of the heights which artistic expression can reach when its individual elements – that is, creative spirits from multiple spheres – work together in harmony. It is a pleasure to behold, and, as sung by two-time Grammy-winning choir The Crossing, an even greater pleasure to listen to.

PLAYING ON THE EDGE 2 follows up Navona Records' first Gramophone-lauded album in this series for string quartet. Like the first installment, the award-winning Sirius Quartet plays the entire catalogue to perfection. Bruce Babcock opens the album with Watcher of the Sky, a piece commissioned to celebrate the sesquicentennial of the birth of American astronomer George Ellery Hale. Four movements chronicle the astronomer's achievements throughout the course of his career: the listener follows the rise from humble beginnings to great discoveries, always enveloped in a sense of marvel at the infinity of outer space. The Canary Who Sang by Dayton Kinney is a politically-inspired piece drawing parallels between the historical canaries in coal mines and today's whistleblowers: a musical testament on how one voice can potentially disrupt a larger society. Happiness, anger, sorrow and joy are the underlying emotions of Roger Fong's Variations on Emotions. Derived from a Chinese saying that it is these emotions that make up life, Fong examines the nature of these heterogeneous sentiments with great accuracy. Daniel Burwasser's Puck's Game is a cinematically illustrative characterization of Shakespeare's mischievous sprite Puck from A Midsummer Night's Dream. Rhythmic and exciting, the work is somewhat reminiscent of Shostakovich, but more light-hearted and humorous. The first movement of String Quartet by John Summers is a meditation on sound, with thick harmonic layers and long, luscious melodic lines. The eclectic Landscapes by Gregory J. Harris round off the album. Careful to give every note, every idea ample space, the three-movement work exploits the tension between grandeur and intimacy – and the string quartet setup is the perfect conjunction of both.

PATTERNS, 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. Asymmetry, composed by James William Stamm, features lush and soaring harmonies and melodies guided by a swift tempo. Guitarist David William Ross’s performance on George Raillard’s Disintegration opens with a distinct melody that quickly does exactly what its title suggests, disintegrating into dissonance. Two Lords, written and performed by Santiago Kodela, is a guitar suite based on the works of two contemporary non-classical guitarists, Allan Holdsworth (1946 - 2017) and Fredrik Thordendal (b. 1970). The piece’s three movements progress from the darkly toned “Of Textures” through the relaxing “Of Colours” to the rhythmically rich, upbeat “Of Mechanics.” David Arbury’s aptly titled Four Snares, performed by the McCormick Percussion Group, is an exploration of the often-overlooked timbral possibilities of the snare drum and a celebration of the wealth of sound available to it. Daniel Adams’s Road Traversed and Reversed also features the Percussion Group’s leader, Robert McCormick. Following an introduction of overlapping roll textures, thematic ideas emerge in an interplay between McCormick’s and Lee Hinkle’s marimbas. On Bunny Beck’s emotional two-movement Suite for Sarro, a string trio evocatively captures sorrow in the face of loss. PATTERNS concludes with Jan Jarvlepp’s Bassoon Quartet, comprised of three movements that range in spirit from adventurous to haunting to lively. Together, each of the pieces on PATTERNS vibrantly illustrate the unlimited possibilities available within the ever-evolving world of chamber music.

Fresh from Navona Records comes QUOTATION OF QUERIES, featuring the students of Hong Kong Baptist University under the direction of Professor John Winzenburg. This collection of choral music explores notions of culture throughout the course of human civilization. It features traditional compositions, recent works, and even three debut recordings by prominent composers from Hong Kong and the United Kingdom. The album opens with “Prelude,” the first movement of Quotation of Queries by composer Chan Hing-Yan. We hear the knocking of a piano, and the sudden, vigorous vocalizations of the Cantoría Hong Kong. The music, which is set to classical Mandarin poetry, pairs Chinese folk traditions with dissonant modern sonorities. The translations of these “queries” include “What do you think human life is like here or there?” and “When can I just ignore the encumbrance?” Next comes John Browne’s setting of Aeschylus’s The Suppliant Woman, which borrows from both classical Greek drama as well as modern theater, with the chorus assuming the role of the story’s protagonist. Later on, we hear excerpts from Brahms’s 11 Zigeunerlieder (Gypsy-Songs), Op. 103, which offers a 19th century take on the challenge of blending of cultures through music. These are just a sampling of the album’s stylistic range. Those who listen to QUOTATION OF QUERIES will find themselves immersed in a deep pool of cultural and musical traditions, as curated by Professor John Winzenburg. These recorded expressions of powerful emotion told through a myriad of musical scales and languages, perhaps counterintuitively, confront the listener with our common humanity across time and space. Listeners should be warned, however, that they too may be left with more questions than answers.

Navona Records presents PAINTED MUSIC from Quatra Duo. This album of works for flute and guitar by four heralded contemporary composers unlocks the imaginative, expressive power of these beloved instruments. The first piece, commissioned as a Christmas gift by Quatra Duo’s Jeff LaQuatra for his then soon-to-be wife and duo partner Michelle Stanley, is James McGuire’s Suite for Flute and Guitar. The six-movement piece reveals the composer's affinity for jazz, popular music, and even impressionism; all the while it demonstrates the performers’ virtuosic range on their instruments. Painted Music from composer Bryan Johanson is a sonata, once again broken into six movements. Each of these is inspired by a different painting from early 20th-century, Swiss born artist Paul Klee. Fish Tale is a surreal and eclectic piece that imagines the journey of a fish from the ocean, to the fish bowl, and far beyond; the music recounts these piscine adventures through a dazzling array of musical styles and colors, from African thumb piano, samba, folk music, and more. From the Dreaming is the work of Australian visual artist, classical guitarist, and composer, Phillip Houghton. The music, inspired by Houghton’s visit to the Australian outback, reflects the grandeur and raw power of the country’s climate and ecosystems. Searing heat, ancient riverbeds, scurrying geckos and violent storms are all reflected in the dynamic twists and turns of the flute and guitar. PAINTED MUSIC, as its name suggests, utilizes these two instruments to imprint a gallery of images onto the canvas of the mind. Far from being limited by the duo format, here Quatra Duo seems to relish the challenge. The listener is left with a new sense of what can be accomplished with merely two instruments—in the hands of the right musicians, that is.

Navona Records proudly presents its latest release from composer Mark John McEncroe: MUSICAL IMAGES FOR CHAMBER ORCHESTRA – REFLECTIONS & RECOLLECTIONS VOL. 2. The album, which was recorded in the Czech Republic, features 11 of McEncroe’s piano works performed by the Janácek Philharmonic Orchestra. Mark McEncroe has lived a rich and compelling life: born in Sydney, Australia in 1947, McEncroe spent decades as both a professional chef and as a music executive; yet, he only began studying piano seriously at age 37. McEncroe capitalized on his sundry life experiences to craft this series of vivid musical reflections. Daybreak, the album’s first track, sets the tone with a bright, unflappable woodwind passage, which is met with a lush, sweeping string accompaniment. The consoling effervescence of this first piece is paired with Floating Lilies, featuring a series of aching minor descending figures. Later on in the album, Dance of the Pagans is a mischievous and scampering piece, inviting the listener to join in the dance around the campfire. This is followed by Natalie’s Theme, in which somber recollections build and erupt into crescendo only to retreat at once to heartrending silence. The album concludes with Shimmering Lights, which guides the collection to a decisive and satisfying final cadence. In MUSICAL IMAGES FOR CHAMBER ORCHESTRA, Mark McEncroe demonstrates both his masterful understanding of the human spirit as well as the compositional tools he employs to explore it. The album is richly dynamic, replete with towering highs and immersive lows. Listeners will be delighted to know that VOLUME 3 and VOLUME 4 in this series are already in production.