One does not have to be religious to appreciate the depth, inspiration, and melodiousness of PSALMS, Eloise Hynes Stowe's new album from Navona Records. Scored for voice and piano, and occasionally supplemented by flute and violin, these psalms and hymns immediately demonstrate the literary and emotional grasp of the biblical texts and ecclesiastical interpretations. Stowe effortlessly manages to clothe the scripture into a tonal tapestry which is equal parts tender and listenable, in an appealing style which wouldn't be out of place in a Christian musical. Exuberant and optimistic, they are a testament not only to the church’s teachings, but also to the intuitive power of music.

Pondering the Baroque violin repertoire, one would be forgiven to think of Johann Sebastian Bach’s works and little else. Acclaimed English violinist Thomas Bowes courageously sets out to change this preconceived notion with TELEMANN FANTASIAS, a rare and remarkable full performance of all of Georg Philipp Telemann’s solo violin fantasias. Telemann is to violinists what Mozart is to keyboard players: deceptively simple on paper, notoriously difficult to master in actuality. Bowes, never a stranger to a challenging repertoire, expertly articulates the cheer, spirit, and zest of these pieces with a strikingly light-hearted panache, as if it could be no different. Indeed, upon listening to this rendition, it is easy to imagine a future in which public performances of Bach’s pious partitas are habitually rounded off by Telemann’s buoyant secular fantasias. For Bowes, this future is now.

Composed almost entirely in 2018 and performed by composer Giovanni Piacentini, the music on Between Worlds serves as a brand-new snapshot of a musician's prowess at the height of his creative capabilities. In an age where the musician-composer is a dying breed in the realm of so-called "serious" music, Piacentini brings a breath of fresh air in a multitude of ways. There is no doubt that his astounding technical skill as a guitarist deeply informs his compositions, and the effect is nothing short of breathtaking. Strikingly, even when employing modern elements - such as adding electronics - Piacentini resolutely resists the temptation of putting trendy, cheap showmanship over the soul of the music. The guitar, the mainspring of musical expression, remains paramount and prominent, always. And, thanks to the composer's talent for lyricism, structure, and depth, this pays off. Immensely. Piacentini's private taste in music is, for lack of a better word, virtually all-encompassing. It comes as no surprise that as a direct result, his own music refuses and refutes strict categorization. The listener might hear reminiscences of Classical-era and Romantic guitar music by Mertz or Sor in one track, and post-2000's indie rock sound the next. That said, all pieces are united by an inherent voice which immediately marks them as works by Piacentini. They range in mood from melancholy to upbeat, from truculent to soothing, but the style itself is perpetually distinct and memorable. Between Worlds is an album that simply makes sense. It is a treasure trove for the musically- trained ear, yet uncompromisingly clear and aesthetic, thus able to appeal equally to casual listeners. Piacentini's impressive command of the guitar indubitably plays a large part, but what's even more stunning is his compositional craftsmanship. One need not recommend repeated listening with this album - this music is so attractive that a listener will likely feel compelled to engage in it again and again without prompt.

SMALL STONES showcases Dr. Nancy Zipay Desalvo’s exploration into both minute and immense concepts. Recorded on solo piano, DeSalvo performs the compositions translating the compressed beauty of Jason Tad Howard and the expansive universe of Daniel Perttu. In the first half of the recording, Howard’s set of nine “short shorts” feature songs all under the two-minute mark (with the exception of his final track, “Reconciliation: A Not Quite So Short Short Short,” which runs just over four minutes long). Despite their short run times, each composition is satisfying. DeSalvo makes the melodies twinkle and shine in multidimensions like small diamonds. Based around the pitch of “C,” each short short establishes its own character and technical approach while sharing the common thread of its pitch. The compositions ring with recurring themes in melody and rhythmic texture, coming together at the final “Short Short No. 9” which unveils a grand finale. Born out of a visit to Stonehenge, Perttu’s compositions expand on the pebble of a simple vision into a larger, more complex structure. In her ambitious, emotional performance, DeSalvo is translating Perttu’s pursuit to achieve full comprehension of the mystical nature surrounding one of the Natural Wonders of the World.

Eleanor Alberga explores the whole gamut of the human experience in WILD BLUE YONDER, an equally diverse and coherent set of four contemporary chamber music pieces. While written over the course of twenty-two years, these pieces burst the limits of both space and time. No-Man's-Land Lullaby reaches back over a century to World War I; Shining Gate of Morpheus enters the realm of the mystical; Succubus Moon explores the dark sides of the human psyche; and The Wild Blue Yonder offers a glimpse into a world that is at once alien and wonderful. Undauntedly, positively unsettling album; perfect listening for these unsettling times.

THREE CELLO SUITES from clarinetist Joshua Ranz and Navona Records is a truly groundbreaking take on Bach's legendary works; In this album, for the first time ever, listeners may enjoy three unabridged cello suites by Bach arranged for the bass clarinet. Ranz selected Suites 1, 2, and 4 for this recording because, together, they form a cohesive and dynamic whole. Ranz holds the chair of principal clarinet for the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, and has played on such blockbuster soundtracks as Toy Story 3 and 4, and Star Wars episodes VII and IX. He can be heard prominently featured in La La Land, Catch Me If You Can, and An American Pickle. Ranz lends a fresh voice to Bach's profoundly-beautiful music in THREE CELLO SUITES.

Navona Records presents European/American composer Svjetlana Bukvich’s latest masterpiece: EXTENSION, a multifaceted collection of pieces that use technology, music, and the motions of dance to both deconstruct and reimagine ideas of genre and cultural division. In EXTENSION, listeners traverse ten innovative pieces that are both deeply personal and universal. Bukvich describes herself as aiming for a “no-genre-borderless-flow” with her music and, on a larger scale, in the structures of human society. Indeed, she captures that spirit immensely: hybridizing musical languages from American minimalism, art and progressive rock, and German classicism, to Italian polyphony, Russian romanticism, jazz, and ethnic idioms, she creates a cinematic, ‘fictocritical’ sound that is entirely unique but at once familiar. From the opening whispers of the electric violin in The Beginning to the evocative title track Extension which mingles both voice and synth, the album is a sweeping conversation between the natural and technological, the language of sound and the language of numbers. The piece Once You Are Not a Stranger appears in three iterations: instrumentally, vocally, and as an orchestral reprise. The meditative return of the piece emphasizes the expression of its title — in the acceptance of profound loss and the redemptive possibilities that extend out of it, there is no division, and no one is a stranger. The composer herself knows the world’s need for connection all too well — her past includes an escape from her home in Sarajevo, Bosnia-Herzegovina in the midst of the Civil War before finding her way to America where she continued her pursuits in media arts. In her youth Bukvich has lived in Ethiopia and Scotland, experiences which also influenced her sonic ideas. EXTENSION offers an opportunity for reconnection through dismantling, rebuilding, and exploring concepts of time, style, and musical history.

Bright Circle is an exquisitely programmed showcase of the interconnectivity underlying the tradition of solo piano in Classical music. Pianist Beth Levin shines as she navigates the romantic masterpieces of Schubert and Brahms, and their very new counterpart - David Del Tredici's 2014 work, Ode to Music. Levin's performance is particularly remarkable in the way she places the Del tRedici within the context of Schubert's Piano Sonata No. 20 and Brahms' Variations and Fugue on a Theme by Handel. Del Tredici's music is an excellent choice to be set alongside two romantic stalwarts, as it aims to recapture the expressive language of nineteenth century European composers. Beyond this general association, all three works on Bright Circle truly are kindred spirits. Schubert and Brahms belong to the same tradition of German romanticism that arose and matured in the early - and mid-nineteenth century. Ode to Music is a fantasy on Schubert's art song An die Musik. Essentially, Bright Circle is defined by music that takes older ideas and reconstitutes them in a new, transformative setting. This is certainly the case with Brahms' Variations, which serves as Bright Circle's backbone. By the time Brahms set to work on this piece in the late 1850's, large sets of variations for piano were a common form for Romantic composers to flex their muscles. However, Brahms departed from the grandeur typical of these precedents - namely, Beethoven's famed Diabelli Variations - and challenged himself to study and assimilate aspects of Baroque forms into his treatment of Handel's theme. The melody at the heart of the variations originated in a work for harpsichord, and Brahms' appreciation of this fact is evident in restrained virtuosity of his piano writing.

The four works on this recording, Unexplored, offer a wide spectrum of musical styles and introduce listeners to new additions to the recorded cello oeuvre. Works by Tchaikovsky, Cassado, Rudnytsky, and Rimsky-Korsakov are presented by the dynamic and versatile cellist Nada Radulovich with Cullum Bryant, one of the most active chamber and collaborative pianists in New York City. Tchaikovsky composed Six French Songs, opus 65', to the original French text by three French poets. Although this is a fully instrumental program, Radulovich provides the first English translation of these songs sonata. The four movements of Cassad�, written by composer and cellist Gaspar Cassado (1897-1966), represent various moods and dances. At times poignant, dramatic, playful, or uplifting, this compelling work, recorded here for the first time, is an effective synthesis of tradition cast in striking, harmonic terms. Romantic Fantasie for Cello and Piano, Op 43, by Ukrainian composer Antin Rudnytsky (1902-1975), displays a conservative 20th-century harmonic language, while exploring the folk idioms of the composer's native land. The intricate dialogue between the instruments illustrates the composer's skill at evoking a variety of moods within a single composition. One of Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov's best-known works, Flight of the Bumblebee, evokes the erratic path of the tiny insect. The unique transcription of this work was created by pianist Bryant and inspired by his collaboration with Radulovich.

Dr. Kim S. Ellis is a native of Rockford, Illinois. She has been principal clarinetist with the Symphony of Southeast Texas since 1990 and is a Buffet Crampon USA performing artists. She is an active performer and clinician at conventions and clinics throughout the United States including the Texas Music Educators Assosication, Festival of Texas Composers, Oklahoma Clarinet Symposium, College Music Society-South Chapter, Sarasota Music Festival, and the University of New Hampshire Chamber Music Festival.

The Phoenix Ensemble’s latest album Johannes Brahms / Elliott Carter: Clarinet Quintets is, of course, masterful. The Phoenix Ensemble now looks back on almost three decades of being a fixture in the national chamber music scene, focusing on performances and recordings of 20th- and 21st-century music. Indeed, it may be this particular specialization in complex musical structures that allows the musicians to explore Brahms' late quintet with the previously unheard thoroughness and careful reconnaissance displayed on this album. Strikingly, both faster movements in the work – the opening “I. Allegro” and the closing “IV. Con moto” – are examined more slowly, with deep profundity. Contrary to what one may expect, the work is enriched by reining in the tempo, enlarging the underlying thought process of Brahms' compositional technique as if viewed through a magnifying glass. But there's yet another artistic merit to this measure – unifying all four movements of Brahms’ quintet in terms of speed also makes them fit perfectly with the otherwise vastly different Clarinet Quintet (2007) by Elliott Carter, a work that consists of movements which blend into one another. The ensemble's previously restrained rhythmic energy is fully unleashed in this structurally dense contemporary composition, culminating in an enigmatic finale. In between, the listener finds the most delightful intermezzo in Carter's standalone piece Esprit Rude/Esprit Doux (1985), in itself, as the title suggests, a work of contrasts, thus bridging the gap between the centuries. But the work, and indeed this album, accomplishes more than that. In fact, with Phoenix Ensemble's two-fold skill of navigating of dissimilar musical languages, yet finding the common denominator between them, this record might just open up the eyes of Brahms lovers to the music by Carter – and vice versa.

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REVIEW:

The playing in the Carter quintet is assured and confident, as one would expect from contemporary music specialists. This is also a slightly different team from that in the Brahms. I have no complaints about the recording. The disc is housed in a cardboard sleeve rather than a jewel case and the booklet notes, in English only, are printed reversed out (white lettering on a dark ground), which does not make for easy reading. If the programme suits, don’t hesitate.

– MusicWeb International

On Parts to Play, critically acclaimed violinist Moonkyung Lee turns from the symphonic environment of the critically lauded label debut, Tchaikovsky, on which she performed with the London Symphony Orchestra, to a more intimate setting, with only pianist Martha Locker as her partner on a selection of works that include both stunning solo performances and intricate yet simple duets. Choosing to include Prokofiev’s “Sonata for Solo Violin” amid compositions from six contemporary composers who collectively represent three decades of works is indicative of Lee’s ability to tease out the subtle nuances of every piece she performs. The three-movement suite moves from the simplicity of Moderato’s Classical sonata format through the more lyrically, introverted Andante Dolce to the clever finale, Con Brio. Similarly, her transit through Benjamin Ellin’s composition for solo violin, “Three States at Play,” is a nuanced journey through three movements, in which the more serene second movement is bookended by two outer movements that are quite rhythmically active. When performing duets with Locker, such as on Rain Worthington’s “Jilted Tango,” Lee’s violin seamlessly integrates with the piano to create an atmosphere both spirited and poignant, capturing the “push and pull in a dance of love” implied by its title. Another sort of dance entirely is captured on the duo’s performance of the vibrant and upbeat “Grand Tartanella.” Moonkyung Lee’s career includes numerous accolades, awards and scholarships including the Yale Chamber Music Celebration, and an NYU/Steinhardt Doctoral Fellowship for Doctoral Studies, of which she was the first ever classical string performer recipient. Her extensive array of performances, both in Europe in the US, include collaborations with many eminent ensembles, conductors and performers.

Though there are thousands of languages and countless political differences across the world, people tend to come together through equally endless forms of music and dance. On THE SUITE, the Lowell Chamber Orchestra, under the direction of Orlando Cela, focuses the lens on the Baroque dance suite as a method of expression that’s ripe for international flavor, artistic individualism, and human storytelling. Suites by Georg Philipp Telemann and Johann Sebastian Bach examine the gallant style’s history and set the groundwork for modern interpretations. The Baroque vanguards pass the torch on to two contemporary composers, Anthony R. Green and Jose Elizondo, who shape and mold the style to match their own compositional artistry as they paint musical pictures of civil rights activism, heart-warming moments in the sun, and the passing of time. What results is an alchemical combination of the old and the new that not only celebrates the original Baroque form, but expands upon it with contemporary, cross-cultural flair.

The Newberry Consort and EnsAmble Ad-Hoc present A MEXICAN CHRISTMAS, an album of 17th century traditional music for worship and celebration. The collection features pieces commonly heard in both liturgical service and in the streets, and evoke the solemnity and fanfare heard in Mexico City’s convents and plazas, with jubilant vocals and lively strings, guitars, and percussion. Organ, harp, bassoon, and a variety of Mexican traditional instruments bring this exuberant and diverse music to life.

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.

On Hymnus, the world renowned Jitro Czech Girls Choir under the direction of Jiri Skopal once again delivers refined, dazzling interpretations of the music that is so much a part of Czech culture. The album, which is the Choir's third release on Navona Records, includes 24 selections that range from Moravian and Silesian folk songs on which the Choir interprets the subtle call and response between bucolic lovers, to a series of compositions inspired by Latin proverbs on which intricate, multidimensional vocals underscore the significance of a simple word or phrase. While the album's tracks are assembled under specific groupings - Silesian Yodel Songs, The Replies of Silesian Songs, Moravian Folk Songs, and Proverbia - this merely delineates the source material. The unifying impact of the Choir's exquisitely crafted vocals elevates this album far above what might otherwise be an ethnomusicological exercise. For the most part, the choir performs without any instrumental accompaniment, save for several Moravian folk songs, on which a solo piano provides an additional layer of intricacy, and for the album's closing track, Hymnus. Combining the stirring instrumentation of kettledrum and organ with the Choir's uplifting vocals, Hymnus translates the positive, humanistic vision of John Amos Comenius, the 17th century educator, philosopher and theologian, into what serves as a superb melodious conclusion of this impressive recording. The Jitro Czech Girls Choir is a complex institution with a membership of around 350 young singers ranging between five and 19 years of age. Since being founded 35 years ago, the Choir has been lauded internationally for it's tonal brilliance, superb intonation, and distinctive rich blend of sound and energetic vitality. It is considered as one of the best children's choirs anywhere in the world, receiving multiple awards and medals.

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.

On his seventh release on Navona Records, THE ADVENTURES OF FLORIAN, Michael J. Evans presents an epic, modern adaptation of Henry Beston’s fairytale of the same name. Over the course of four orchestral acts, Evans reframes the story as a tale of trans heroship, with Prince Florizel marrying Florian himself presenting as a boy, rather than revealing Florian as Isabella. Beautifully accessible and poignantly educational, THE ADVENTURES OF FLORIAN brings LGBT characters into the spotlight to improve their representation and educate audiences on the difference between sexual orientation and gender identity. Over the course of the tale, Florian and Florizel display true love for each other and come together as one. Evans enhances the piece’s narrative drive with dedicated instrumentation for each character. The oboe represents Isabella until her transition into Florian, at which point he is musically defined by the soprano sax. The powerful Enchanter is heard as a bass trombone, which contrasts with the english horn and shrieking clarinets which represent the Old Witch and her daughter. Finally, Prince Florizel is heard as a trumpet. Evans continues to show his compositional and thematic prowess through his use of themes for Florian and Florizel. Their respective themes are complete and can stand on their own, but when they come together they form a beautiful duet that represents their healthy, loving relationship. Accompanying the music and fairytale are more than a hundred full illustrations by Appoline Etienne, which depict the story and its joyous ending. The colorful, dreamlike imagery perfectly captures the uplifting theme, and helps make the album’s message understandable for all ages.

Navona Records proudly presents Flare, recordings by members of the Society of Composers, Inc. Now in it's 32nd installment, it offers a veritable cross-section of some of the most original voices in composition today. The album opens with 20-year-old Vaibhav Mohanty's Rhapsody No. 1 (2017), traveling through elements of Western classical composition, jazz, and Indian traditional music with such well-proportioned naturalness and ease, it bears all the telltale signs of an instant repertoire classic. Robert Strobel's Refugees, a dynamic piano composition reminiscent of Takemitsu, explores the human drama of displacement in profoundly thought-out rhythmic and melodic structures. Continuing with the musical tradition of the 20th century, Keith Kramer transcends Olivier Messiaen's harmonic heritage in his oboe/piano duo L'etere del Tempo. Rejuvenated by Matthew J. Jaskot perambulates a futuristic universe of musical expression in seven diverse piano variations, miraculously springing forth from a simple pentatonic melody. In contrast, Jonathan Graybill draws inspiration from ancient Cherokee mysticism and lends a mysterious voice to the black-capped chickadee in Tsigili'I, illustrating it's mythological association as a messenger of wisdom and truth. In Song of the Avadhut, Romanian composer Gabriel Malancioiu aims to affect human consciousness in an avant-gardesque duet between soprano and violin, influenced by the teachings of modern and ancient mystics. Jacob Thiede's When All Else Fails contrasts the sonorous texture of a tuba with the mathematical perfection of computerized sine tones. In Dreams Interrupted, Mark W. Phillips fuses jazz, blues, and classical elements into a rhapsodic tribute to the cultural heritage of Memphis TN.

Acclaimed English violinist Thomas Bowes seems to have a penchant for thoroughness and completion. Known and praised for his complete recording of all J. S. Bach's sonatas and partitas, the European virtuoso has now taken it upon himself to embark on another quest for totality. This time, it is the six sonatas by Belgian violinist Eug�ne Ysa�e (1858-1931), presented on Bowes' new album, EUG�NE YSA�E: SIX SONATAS FOR SOLO VIOLIN. As one would expect from Bowes, they are played to passionate perfection. Ysa�e, hailed in his time as no less than the "King of the Violin", is a formidable figure to take on for any modern musician. He was famed not only for precision but more especially for a deeply affecting, quasi-supernatural power of communication. A man of immense generosity and largeness of spirit It is difficult to imagine any violinist adequately reproducing Ysa�e's compositions and this special aura. Doubly so if one considers the background of the Six Sonatas for Violin. They were written at a crucial point late in life. Plagued by illness and doubt and finding himself increasingly cut off from playing his beloved instrument as he would wish, this deep frustration found expression in this encapsulation of his art. In short, these works - all sketched out at white heat in a 24-hour period and hair-raisingly complex and difficult for the player - are an embodiment of the man. Thankfully, Bowes not only possesses the technical mastery to command every playing requirement; he also approaches these works with a great sense of empathy towards their creator. It is this attribute which affords him the rarest of insights into Ysa�e's violinistic mastermind. In fact, Bowes plays with such zest and clarity that the listener occasionally needs to be reminded that these are indeed sonatas for solo violin, not for an ensemble of two or three musicians.

On THE TOWER AND THE GARDEN, the multi-GRAMMY winning choir The Crossing and conductor Donald Nally ponder the fragility of the earth, the awe of nature, and the power of language to unite, or divide, society. Chicago's best-known early music ensemble The Newberry Consort exhilarates with VESPERS, a collection of dazzlingly original music for women’s voices. The composer? A mysterious early-17th-century Mexican named Juan de Lienas, whose style energetically oscillates between Renaissance and Baroque elements. Little is known about de Lienas beyond the manuscripts, which, much to the undeserved discredit of the poor composer, occasionally include unflattering personal remarks scrawled in the margins. Perhaps that these insults on his appearance and personality stemmed from mere envy, for the music captured by his hand presents such skill, wit and zest that it can still be enjoyed a full four centuries after its inception. Not an easy feat by any means, and certainly facilitated by a spectacular performance of The Newberry Consort under the direction of director and soprano Ellen Hargis. Since the music on VESPERS was originally composed for use in women's convents, the bass voice is either sung up the octave, or replaced by bassoon or viola da gamba. The result is graceful, airy, ethereal, otherworldly. Easy on the ears not only for lovers of early music, and for these: a veritable treat.

Around the world, millions of readers eagerly await the impending release of the new thriller ‘Origin’ by Dan Brown, the #1 New York Times bestselling author of ‘The Da Vinci Code.’ According to Brown, the initial spark of inspiration for his highly anticipated novel struck him when he first heard a provocative piece of classical music entitled Missa Charles Darwin — a piece composed by award-winning composer Gregory W. Brown, who also happens to be the author’s brother. The composition is featured at a crucial moment in the ‘Origin’ narrative.

Missa Charles Darwin, was written for Grammy-nominated New York Polyphony and is structured on the standard liturgical Mass. Brown painstakingly translated DNA sequences and markers into musical phrases set to texts by Charles Darwin.  In doing so, Brown simultaneously commemorates the scientist’s genius while interrogating the relationship between faith and reason.

“For some listeners Missa Charles Darwin might seem inherently subversive,” adds Gregory W. Brown, “but that can be part of the conversation. It doesn’t take anything away from religion to also celebrate Charles Darwin.”

All of Gregory’s proceeds from this release are being donated to musical education charities including Chorus America, American Choral Directors Association, and the International Society for Music Education.

Simon Andrews has earned a reputation as a creator of eloquent concert music that blends harmonic complexity and lyricism, introversion and broad gestures, and delicate timbres and bold statements. Here, on his recording debut, he offers up 10 compositions, all of which emphasize his proficiency in both vocal and instrumental music. The opening track, Violin Dialogues I and II, presents violin and piano in conversation. The first Dialogue contrasts two sets of ideas, each instrument's individual voice rising and falling until the two come together in a hard-won consensus. If Dialogue I is oppositional, Dialogue II is conversational, it's narrative more about two characters who agree on the destination and differ only on the best way to reach it. The album's title track, borrowed from the poem "Song" by Seamus Heaney is by turns lyrical and passionate, intimate and robust, as the five performers' instruments weave their way through various combinations. The four movements of For the earth is hollow and I have touched the sky, is a musical response to a concert which the composer attended at the American Composers Orchestra of music by Frank Zappa. An even more pop-cultural reference is the composition's title track and fourth movement, which is a musical representation of a quote from an episode of Star Trek, originally "... for the world is hollow and I have touched the sky." The album's first track to feature solo voice is My dove, my covey, an early lyrical poem by W.H. Auden, performed by a trio of oboe, violoncello and piano. In similar fashion, The heart has narrow banks, a beautiful poem written by Emily Dickenson, was chosen by the composer because it allowed him to create a more flexible harmonic language that could express lyrics such as "blue monotony" and "a wall of unattempted gauze" while keeping a consistent musical thread throughout. Inspired by a visit to New Mexico, Abiquiu Trio displays the impact of the desert landscape and the work of Georgia O'Keeffe on Andrews. The language of all three movements is a response to different facets of those two influences. The music of the piece's final movement, begun during a short stay at Christ in the Desert, a living monastery where church services are intoned to Gregorian chants, is a strong reminder that in addition to his more secular work, Andrews is also noted for his compositions of church music.

Transcriptions for string quartet by the composer or someone else was common practice in Mozart’s time. In that light this string-version of Mozart's Requiem is nothing special. What makes it special, is the circumstance of the original Requiem itself. It is known that Mozart left the majority of the work incomplete, and that on request of Mozart's widow, his pupil Süssmayer did the finishing job. Where one's work ends and the other starts, no-one knows. This 'skeleton-version' of the Requiem, however, fully preserves the eloquence of Mozart's music and therefore perhaps proves that the Requiem contains more of the masters own composing than we can objectively establish. But incomplete as the Requiem is, Mozart's universal genius radiates through the notes in any version. And if anyone can bring the radiation to the surface in this version, no one better than the Kuijken Kwartet.

Grammy Award-winning chamber choir The Crossing brings to life the striking works of six contemporary composers in this Navona Records release, with performances that are unique and awe-inspiring. The Crossing is a professional chamber choir conducted by Donald Nally and dedicated to new music. It is committed to working with creative teams to make and record new, substantial works for choir that explore and expand ways of writing for choir, singing in choir, and listening to music for choir. Many of its over seventy commissioned premieres address social, environmental, and political issues.