An exploration of the unique timbral characteristics and technical extensions of wind instruments, Gregory Wanamaker's LIGHT AND SHADOWS, WAVES AND TIME is comprised of eight compositions that collectively illustrate the composer's ability to integrate various genre influences into a distinctive whole. His music has been lauded as "pure gold, shot through with tenderness and grace" by the San Francisco Chronicle and "achingly beautiful" by the Palm Beach Daily News. The album's first track, "des ondes et les temps," which translates to "of waves and time," explores the saxophone's full range of possibilities. A solo piece performed by Casey Grev, "des ondes et les temps" waxes and wanes and rises and falls. Wanamaker expands to a quartet setting for "... unsettled, unphased... ," whose rhythmic roots can be found in genres ranging from Eastern European folk and dance music to jazz and progressive rock. The somber, poignant "Elegy," written for and performed by the Akropolis Reed Quintet, was originally composed in memory of those who died in the September 11 attacks, while the virtuosic musical fantasy, "Ragahoro Breakdown" intricately weaves elements of North Indian Raga with characteristics of a Bulgarian Horo and subtle hints of American folk music. The track that represents the second half of the album's title is a sonata in two contrasting movements, the first a quiet nocturne, the second it's polar opposite, each exploring the extended timbres of the saxophone and extreme ranges of the piano, while the dynamic "Out of Mind, Into Body" travels a similar path taken by John Friedrich's solo bass clarinet. While less than two minutes in length, the spirited "Counterpunch" effectively alternates elements of driving American-style minimalist with a fusion of jazz and funk. The album concludes with a concr�te version of it's opening track, transforming it into the form of experimental music in which sound identities are intentionally manipulated to appear unconnected to their source, creating an ambient, layered soundscape.

Multi-award-winning composer Anthony Brandt makes his Navona Records debut with MATERNITY / ULYSSES, HOME. The album includes two very distinct compositions with equally distinct inspirations. Maternity for soprano and chamber orchestra is based on neuroscientist David Eagleman's short story "The Founding Mothers," published in Slate Magazine on Mother's Day, 2010. Eagleman reads the complete story on the album, which traces a maternal line back through history. In the space of seventeen minutes, the composition touches on the lives of twenty-one mothers spread across millions of years of history. Brandt's setting begins with a fragment of a lullaby sung to a child; as the piece progresses, that lullaby becomes more and more distorted as the evolutionary chain rewinds to early humans, primates, aquatic creatures, and eventually to a single cell. Ulysses, Home imagines Homer's story of Ulysses and his return to Penelope after the Trojan War in a more contemporary context, portraying the hero as a modern soldier suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder. Scored for soprano, baritone and string quartet, and comprised of five continuous scenes, the opera's opening evokes the ferocity of combat and Ulysses' many tours of duty. As the couple is reunited, the battle music becomes submerged-but it is never gone entirely. Instead, it hovers in the background, gradually re-emerging as Ulysses struggles to leave the battlefield behind. Both pieces on MATERNITY / ULYSSES, HOME were recorded live in Houston TX. Riveting, moving, and altogether unforgettable, Brandt's album covers the multifaceted experiences of human life from it's very beginnings all the way to today.

Pianist 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. The album commences with Blues from George Rochberg's Carnival Music. This piece is true to it's name in style and form with the riffs and improvisations to prove it. Michael Anderson's Thirteen plus 4 and Sonata create a contemplative setting, where every tone cluster and arpeggio is connected to the next. Rust skillfully gives each phrase it's own story. Rust shares three selections from Leo Brouwer's Diez Bocetos. Moving from dark and mysterious to mischievous and experimental, the piece shows that after the darkness, light does emerge, leaving the listener on a hopeful plateau. In Ellen Taaffe Zwilich's Lament, Rust pays close attention to structure, truly capturing the traditional yet experimental compositional style for which Zwilich is known. In Almeida Prado's Halley, all the forces of nature appear in this tonally-liberated work, likely influenced by the composer's studies with Messiaen and Boulanger. It is a voyage into the uncharted, but the finish is demure. In Phillip Evans' Suite 1945, the pianist graces us with a "Sarabande" and "Aria." The composer's affinity for Bartok is evident in this piano composition that spans a breadth of emotions. His exquisite "Minuetto" is nuanced and precious and Rust gives it the delicate delivery it deserves. Thomas L. McKinley's Fantasy Pieces for Piano demonstrates Rust's ability to portray more rustic, raw themes in her performances. Concluding the album are three selections from John Sharpley's Four Preludes. Rust thrills her listener with suspense, the latter party holding on in anticipation of her every note and phrase. The New York Times hailed Rust as "a powerhouse of a pianist-one who combines an almost frightening fervor and intensity with impeccable technique and spartan control."

For her debut album on PARMA recordings, SHE, Emily Sternfeld-Dunn serves as the voice of two of history's strongest female characters. The poetic musings in the lyrics soar with Sternfeld-Dunn's unmistakable soprano under the current of the tender, delicate melodies performed by pianist Amanda Pfenninger. Split into two mini-albums, SHE serves as a definitive recording that both showcases Sternfeld abilities as a vocalist and preserves the compositions for educational use. The first collection, titled "Too Few the Mornings Be (Eleven Songs for Soprano and Piano)," is composed by Ricky Ian Gordon. Gordon complimented his compositions with the poems of Emily Dickinson. Despite the relatively short run-times of these tracks, Sternfeld-Dunn takes the poet's philosophical themes and wraps them in raw emotion as though pleading for answers to life's biggest questions. The second half of this album "Eve-Song" features music by Jake Heggie and text by Philip Littell. Here, Heggie creates a moving soundtrack to Littell's poems about the biblical Eve. The composition is a monodrama. The longer compositions allows Sternfeld-Dunn to truly harness the character of Eve. She employs her vocal melodies like ancient chants exploring moods and feelings of wonderment, yearning, and even humor. The power of SHE comes from the strength of it's female performers. Sternfeld-Dunn and Pfenninger play off each other well to give life to these historically-renowned women, and translate their quests for life and purpose into a grand, new meaning.

Flutist Lindsey Goodman presents her second album, Returning To the Heights Unseen. Goodman grasps the listener's attention right away with Roger Dannenberg's "Separation Logic" for flute and live computer processing. In this futuristic work it is the listener's responsibility to determine what is real and what is imagined as his ears are fed short melodic phrases that have been electronically manipulated. It's this sort of electronic genius that allows Goodman to play a duet with herself in the second track, David Stock's "A Wedding Prayer" for 2 flutes, stark and striking. In Tony Zilincik's "I Asked You" for solo flute and mixed media, Goodman competes with samples of spoken text and percussion riffs in "Everything I Love." "I Play Music" boasts a similar challenge, but without percussion and with the addition of the atmospheric pads of a modern synthesizer and the sound of ocean waves. Elainie Lillios's "Sleep's Undulating Tide" for flute in C and live, interactive electroacoustics seems to be a continuation of the previous Zilincik track, until the entrance of a ghostly mezzo-soprano voice-the flutist's herself. Next is Linda Kernohan's "Demon: Daemon," a performance art piece in which the flutist is both musician and actor as she is seemingly possessed by an evil spirit. Randall Woolf's "The Line of Purples" for flute and pre-recorded electronics is the least harmonically experimental of the works so far, but perhaps the most complex to categorize. In Judith Shatin's "For the Fallen" for amplified flute and electronics the listener must decide who is fallen-Adam and Eve? A young soldier? Or the listener herself? Here Goodman offers the entire spectrum of possible flute sounds and colors though an electronic backdrop of dark chimes, pipes, gongs, and cymbals. This masterfully mixed album is a must-have for any new music or electronic music savant.

Missa Charles Darwin will be released as a special edition deluxe package on PARMA Recordings/Navona Records. It will include an all-new remastering of Missa Charles Darwin as well as liner notes, biographies, and excerpts from the Darwin texts featured in the music. A select number of the deluxe packages include a limited edition photograph hand signed by the composer and author. 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. Vocal music with texts from Charles Darwin Performed by New York Polyphony

John A. Carollo's fourth Navona Records release, and follow up to 2017's The Transfiguration of GIovanni Baudino, is a wondrous musical journey through the world of desire. With Music From the Ethereal Side of Paradise, Carollo makes an impassioned plea for the power of romance. From the opening tensions and mystery of "Awakenings for String Orchestra" through the surprising, amorous joy of "Romanzo!" "Splendido Affare," and "La Tortura dell' Amore," Carollo's compositions communicate what mere words cannot: the inner rapture, utter fulfillment, and yes, the torture, of being in love. Shifting slightly, and perhaps more into the ethereal, "Metamorphosis No. 3 for Solo Violin" introduces a newer, more contemplative element. With short notes and runs, the violin first cries out with unanswered questions followed by furrowed introspection. Two Guitar Etudes follow, demonstrating both intimacy and technique, while maintaining an inquisitive tone throughout. As the album continues, we arrive at a vocal suite with "Little Gems" to be discovered throughout. T.S. Eliot wrote "... The end of all our exploring/Will be to arrive where we started/And know the place for the first time." Musid From the Ethereal Side of Paradise does just that. Concluding as we began with a sumptuous string orchestra, we arrive where we started - enlightened and wise from our journey.

Since the late 18th century, art songs have combined poetic vocals and equally intricate instrumental accompaniments to delight listeners with intimate compositions across the globe. The Malta Philharmonic Orchestra Trio's CANTILENA spans the centuries and continents to highlight the form's enduring appeal. CANTILENA transports listeners through time and cultures as soprano Gillian Zammit, harpist Britt Arend, and cellist Frank Camilleri explore the national traditions and stylistic traits of individual composers who embraced the emotional impact and stripped-down arrangement of the art song. The album opens with works by Debussy, Duparc, Faur�, and Massenet, who exemplify the French penchant for precision and expression in elegant m�lodies with accompaniments that shine a light on the emotions expressed in their texts. The lyrical traditions of Italy then come into focus, with folksong-inspired pieces by Tosti featuring beautiful Italianate melodic phrases and a haunting instrumental by Tedeschi. The European tour is concluded with Strauss, with a series of lieder that range from joyous and playful to dark and brooding. The program takes a contemporary turn with Alexander Vella Gregory's Tluq, based on poetry by John Aquilina. The short song cycle spans the gamut of human emotion in relationships, beginning with the loss of love and regret to the eventual relief of reconciliation. To close things out, Heitor Villa-Lobos' Bachianas Brasileiras pays homage to Bach's Baroque idioms with a heady fusion of Brazilian folk and popular music.

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.

Timothy Kramer has recorded and released a full album of his orchestral works with Navona Records. The result: SENTINELS, an evocative representation of Kramer's compositions that span several decades, with influences ranging from Baroque to rock. The bold, prominent horn introduction of BACH meets ESCHER opens the album with a sense of mystery. This is the first movement of Symphony B-A-C-H, the largest work on the recording. Drawing from his training as a music scholar and theorist as well as a composer, Kramer chose to base each movement of this symphony on an overarching musical texture: the first focuses on polyphony, then monophony, homophony, and finally, cacophony. Everything is a deliberate choice: even the individual notes chosen by Kramer in certain sections can be "decoded" to reveal the names "Bach" and "Escher." Next comes A Fivescore Festival, a work commissioned by the City of Kent WA for their Centennial celebration. The piece, a series of four preludes and a rondo, has a spirit of resoluteness which imagines the city marching through successive generations toward the promise of the future. Sentinels of the Dance breaks from the traditionalism of the preceding piece, with the timpani and other instrument sections snarling and biting at each other with spontaneous, syncopated rhythms. Finally comes All in Golden Measure, another commissioned piece-this time for the Jacksonville Symphony Society celebrating the 50th anniversary of their Symphony Orchestra. Appropriately, Kramer chose to integrate the golden ratio into the fabric of this composition. Here, Kramer's sensitivity to rhythm and timbre allows him to conjure up images of the train whistling through Jacksonville, the hissing of cicadas, and the electric excitement resonating through the summer air from the racetrack.

Introducing the album is Lee Actor's Duo for Violin and Cello. The track, which won the Eva Thompson Phillips Award for Composition in 1979, is a short, textured, and powerful piece. In ABA form, the energy of the stringed instruments swings like a parabola from the height of sharp, angular rhythms down into deep and gentle expressions and builds up to a sharp, explosive climax. Contrasting with this minimal violin-cello duo, Peter Greve's Aria is slow and expansive. The composer pairs the trumpet and organ, mastering the interweaving of the brass instrument's long slurring path around the subtle foundation laid by the keys. The sonata Marian is a composition created by Steven Kennedy. Kennedy's composition represents a polyptych of the Life of Jesus Christ, interpreted through the grace of the violin and piano. In four carefully composed pieces, Kennedy guides the listener through Christ's beginnings ("Advent l'enfant"), alongside Christ as he walks to the cross ("Lento Doloroso"), the thunderous early stages of the movement of his tomb ("Resurrectio"), and finally the arrival of the Holy Spirit ("Jubilatio Spiritu"). Sidney Bailin employs jazz influences in Blue Plea. Writing for clarinet, the tone of the piece is influenced by the 2nd movement of the Brahms Clarinet Quintet. Though the atmosphere of the piece often feels improvisational, the careful calculation of Bailin's every note creates a story, one of sorrow and pleading, that introduces subjects and counter-subjects through his use of riffs. The last track of the album, Allen Brings' Duo for Flute and Piano, closes the album with three movements. Echoing some of the themes of J.S. Bach's inventions, the flute and piano create a relationship that is at once contentious and allied. The composition creates a back-and-forth between the two instruments like a game of tag, influencing each others' performances in both moments of softness and ferocity.

Piano visionary Sandrine Erdely-Sayo pays a dignified tribute to Maestro Franz Liszt in MAJESTIC LISZT, an intimate recording of some of his finest works. Having a deep respect and admiration since childhood, Erdely-Sayo pours every ounce of her being into capturing the contemplative and song-like quality that pervades Liszt's middle-to-late repertoire. A rich and elegant session, it's impossible not to be enraptured by her sensitive and languishing treatment in Consolations, nor her delicate attention to poetics in the melody lines of Standchen and Romance in E Minor. Erdely-Sayo shines in the beloved Liebestraume, delivering an electrifying interpretation while still maintaining a dream-like musicality at it's core. MAJESTIC LISZT is a perfect introduction to the Maestro's oeuvre, catering to both devoted Liszt enthusiasts and those just starting to explore his music.

On Whispering Fragrance, his first solo album with Navona Records, composer Stephen Yip merges serenity with agitation, earthiness with sophistication and the mundane with the sublime. The result is an original creation that is unapologetically post-modern, yet deeply rooted in Chinese traditionalism. The instrumentation itself already offers ample proof for this unique blend. "Ding", scored for double bass and the Chinese zither guzheng, reflects the nine ancient rulers of the Zhou kingdom in just as many short musical sections. "Whispering Fragrance," an intuitive, ethereal composition for solo violin, aims to capture the transcendent sensual experiences of interacting with nature - sight, smell, hearing - with the instrument's natural harmonics. Stephen Yip, who nowadays lives in the United States, does not shy away from jazz instrumentation, either. "In 7th Heaven," a saxophone, double bass and piano seek to create a state of debonair tranquility. Nevertheless, the influence of Yip's Chinese heritage remains profoundly interwoven with his musical creations. Some of the different meanings of the Chinese word "Ran" are set to sound in the eponymous piece written for solo guzheng, running the gamut from collected composure to fiery agitation. "Tranquility in Consonance", set for flute, saxophone, bassoon and piano, never loses it's distinctly Eastern feel, which is partially due to applying playing techniques of Chinese instruments to the Western set-up, partially due to it's uninhibited celebration of environmental and natural sounds. Finally, "Peace of Mind" is an atmospheric development of heterogeneous textures, the conclusion of which mirrors the title. Whispering Fragrance is an exceptional solo debut, bridging the chasm between two vastly different cultures with a musical language that is quite unique.

Butterfly Effects and Other Works contains four pieces of music, each with it's own personality. Vercoe composed Butterfly Effects using evocative melodies reminiscent of a butterfly in flight. The mood of each of the seven movements, set by the interplay of harp and flute (piccolo, bass, alto, or concert flute), is at times somber and reflective, and at other times bluesy and brilliant. Vercoe experiments with various techniques, sometimes with soaring melodies and trills in the flute, and at other times with more primal, percussive sounds such as beat boxing and key slaps. This is my letter to the World is composed of six songs inspired by the poetry of Emily Dickinson. Written for mezzo-soprano, flute, and piano, Vercoe builds on Dickinson's words with music that enhances the mood of the poetry. For example, in "Snow," a rain stick spills slowly, recreating the sound of the falling snow. And in "A Spider sewed at Night," the soft piano and use of finger cymbals evoke the quiet yet complex and introspective tone of Dickinson's famous writing style. The third piece, Elegy, is a short, dramatic piece for viola and piano that is alternately forceful and quietly introspective. The music becomes increasingly tonal as the viola eloquently asserts it's voice in a short cadenza and pairs with the piano to express various reactions to loss, moving from anger to sorrow, and at last, to resignation. Finally, the fourth work, Herstory I, sets to music the poetry of women writers - this time with piano, soprano, and vibraphone. Here Vercoe draws on the texts of four contemporary female poets: Anne Sexton, Adrienne Rich, Sylvia Plath, and Pam White. Recorded for broadcast at the WGBH-FM studios in Allston MA, the work is enriched by the energy of the live performance. Unifying the album with this final piece, Vercoe shows the true breadth and depth of her abilities as a composer.

First up in this compelling collection is a selection of Walt Whitman's oeuvre, including the work that inspired the album's title, which Perkins' music hauntingly elucidates as the lament of a soul hovering on the brink between life and death. Intriguingly, the composer preserves the mood for the Holy Sonnets by John Donne, a Petrarch-style, English Renaissance collection of sonnets auguring the later Baroque period's preoccupation with the contrast between carnality and mortality. Just as mysterious: the Riddle Songs, poems taken from a 10th-century anthology of Anglo-Saxon poetry, sung in Old English and ethereally brought to life by Perkins' colorful tonal language. With the same unique brushstroke, the listener is seamlessly escorted to the Dogen Songs, minimalist poems by 13th-century Japanese Zen monk Dogen Zenji. A true highlight awaits in the form of the composer's fellow East Coast native, William Carlos Williams, whose poems Spring and All, The Farmer, and The Right of Way, Perkins brings to life with the aptitude and zest of a true kindred spirit. Similarly, Robert Louis Stevenson's Summer Songs are awarded a graceful treatment, with fittingly elaborate lyrical phrasings and an almost neo-Romantic tonality taking the reins. Perkins initially ties in contemporary American poet Lia Purpura's Three Songs for Autumn with the same mood, though ample care is taken not to stifle the freestyle nature of the more modern lyric. Soir d'Hiver (Winter Evening) opens with a bone-chilling chord which could not have been more appropriately chosen for the subject matter: poetic sketches of wintertime hardship and barrenness by several different poets such as Rilke and Verlaine. Whispers of Heavenly Death manages to fit not one, but eight (!) song cycles on one album - and it's an aspirational feat indeed.

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.

FIGMENTS 2, which follows the success of 2016's FIGMENTS, is a compendium of chamber music that sparks the imagination. The album features the works of Yuan-Chen LI, Peter Dayton, Hans Bakker, Navid Bargrizan, and Charles Corey-innovative composers whose works draw inspiration from the world around them, be it the tribal dances of indigenous peoples, art history, 16th-century keyboard music, the science of acoustics, or the idiosyncrasies of language. The album opens with Tell by Yuan-Chen LI, a work commissioned and performed by saxophonist Jessica Maxfield, that joins the woodwind instrument in a holy dance with the leaping yips, gasps, and cries of the human voice. This is followed by Mar de Lurin, after paintings by Fernando de Szyszlo, in which composer Peter Dayton harnesses the creamy resonance of nylon guitar strings to paint vibrant studies in light and shadow. Hans Bakker's Tiento I for guitar solo and Tiento II for guitar solo are contemporary imaginings of a 16th-century Spanish form that are all at once aggressive, romantic and, at times, contrapuntal. Next comes Navid Bargrizan's 10 Aphorisms, a series of concise musical statements colored by contrasting timbres and scales that push the boundaries of music theory into the realm of psychoacoustics. A second piece by Bargrizan, Se-Chahar-Gah, is inspired by Persian classical music and performed on a custom-built microtonal guitar. The album concludes with Charles Corey's Syzygy, a four-movement work for string quartet, each one exploring relationships between tonality and dissonance; the last movement dramatically ends the album by slowly gliding to the extreme registers of the ensemble. FIGMENTS 2 invites listeners on a journey that is sure to both delight their minds and challenge their assumptions. The sundry pieces, each infused with the unique voice of their composer, come together to form a distinctive and cohesive album. FIGMENTS 2 offers listeners a brief taste of the breadth of sounds that Navona Records has to offer and is sure to leave them hungry for more.

On his debut solo Navona Records release, The Real Beeler, prolific composer Alan Beeler presents his refined and distinguishable orchestral voice, exploring various harmonic and melodic forms and structures as well as the serial techniques of the Second Viennese School. As Beeler himself remarks about his compositional style, “I write music that pleases me.... Form and technique are useless unless they produce a pleasing result.” His symphonic music carries an air of mystery and abstraction, yet remains expressive, leaving space for the listener to take his or her own journey.

Composer, cellist and conductor Heidi Jacob, Assoc. Prof. of Music at Haverford College has performed throughout the United States and Europe. Ms. Jacob’s solo and chamber music works have been performed by such ensembles as the Momenta String Quartet, the Hildegard Chamber Players and the Argento Ensemble. This new Navona CD release features five Jacob works for solo piano and chamber forces as well as a final work, Salome Revisited, for electroacoustic tape, all composed 2005-12.

Letters To A Young Poet, composer Mark Zanter’s debut Navona release, presents recently commissioned chamber works for strings. + The inspiration for the title track comes from the content of Rainer Maria Rilke’s letters of encouragement to poet Franz X. Kappus. + Themes are continued and developed in both Lament and dream (2013) for string orchestra, piano, and percussion, and Three Movements for Cello Quintet (2007). + The single-movement String Quartet (2011) is described by cellist Şölen Dikener as “...a monumental work…that carries the listener into Zanter’s adventurous world.”

From the serenity of the Smoky Mountains to the abstraction and boldness of Kandinsky’s paintings, composer Paul Osterfield’s debut solo on Navona, ‘Sound and Fury’, pulls inspiration from several experiences the composer translates into refined, stimulating and expressive chamber pieces. Mr. Osterfield writes many of his pieces for particular performers and ensembles, giving his music unique personalities that reflect the musicians’ virtuosic capabilities. Sound and Fury, written for the Blakemore Trio, uses ornate passages and driving rhythms with soaring lyrical melodies, while Etudes for Piano, Book 1, written for pianist Caleb Harris, demonstrates various technical faculties such as parallel chords, syncopated rhythms, and blazing strings of notes. Works such as Smoky Mountain Autumn and Kandinsky Images depict the imagery of the natural landscapes of East Tennessee and the intense, often dark, and striking expressions of the painter’s pieces.

On Paragonia, Michael G. Cunningham explores ways an orchestra can interact with itself on several levels. + Counter Currents presents contrary phrases and themes simultaneously stated. + TransActions portrays dimensions of density, presenting gestures and passages prompting sectional orchestral interplay. + In the Piano Concerto, the orchestra and piano are equally matched, using elements of stylized jazz and vocal-like passages to structure themes. + The Trumpet Concerto demonstrates different conversational techniques among the voices, such as chatter, flippancy and imitation.

Composer and pianist Jeffrey Jacob depicts the experiences of struggle and pain, and of triumph and joy on his debut Navona Records release Darkness To light. Death and Transfiguration (Sym. No. 3), a contemporary version of Richard Strauss’s tone poem, expresses the emotions of a dying man, who, fearing death, later finds in it exaltation. String Qrt No. 2 and Elegy portray turmoil and conflict, and their overcoming. Sym. No. 1 presents ideas about timelessness, taken from T.S. Eliot’s Four Quartets. Mr. Jacob is currently Artist-in-Residence at Saint Mary’s College in Notre Dame, IN.

The Golden Galaxy, Navona’s fourth release of works by the late, prolific French composer Yves Ramette (1921-2012), is the first to present his works for organ (until 1990, he was organist at Église Saint Ferdinand de Ternes in Paris). This album is particularly significant in being the first to feature Ramette as both composer and performer. Pour Une Nuit De Noel and Pastorale explore the Earth’s beauties and joys, and the seemingly endless universe in which it hangs; Toccata Et Fugue illustrates the composer’s admiration for the WWI hero airman Georges Guynemer’s bravery and fearlessness.

Composer Sparky Davis, who takes a “modern, not modernistic” approach to writing his music, expands the vocabulary of music to include non-traditional elements and adds to the functional uses of long-established note combinations.

Luminescence brings to light six contemporary composers’ works for orchestra. Marvin Schluger’s Manhattan Suite and New York, 2013 by Raymond Bokhour, allude to the Big Apple. Robert Burrell’s Serenade for Strings captures the musicality of Australia’s avian species, while Daniel Burwasser’s Catching Fireflies reflects the innocence and playfulness of childhood pastimes. The Oglala Sioux holy man Nicholas Black Elk is the subject of David Kirtley’s work. Rain Worthington’s Within a Dance evokes the intimacy of a first invitation to dance, and the continuing dance of love.

Goddesses is the third offering in Navona Records’ The Shakespeare Concerts Series, which presents several works by composer Joseph Summer from his collection of settings of Shakespearean scenes, sonnets and soliloquies, Oxford Songs. These particular works are reflections on feminine divinity, from the literal to the metaphorical to the figurative aspects of this concept. Summer’s deep knowledge of Shakespeare’s works and rich compositional technique produce a musical and literary experience that adds layers of insight to Shakespearean characters and themes.

Oftentimes in our technology-driven global society, words can become obscured in meanings and associations depending interpretation or translation. + On the other hand, music in its abstraction often can prompt more concrete interpreta¬tions. + Composer Michael J. Evans explores the relationships between words, music, and meaning on his latest Navona release, Cipher. + “His music is an emotional flow uninterrupted, strongly characterized in melodic and rhythmic sense.” - Kathodik

What must it feel like to play an instrument that is one of seven known to exist in the world? Pianists Shuko Watanabe and Timothy Gaylard know this feeling, playing works by Muzio Clementi (1752-1832) on a Clementi grandforte piano. Some of Clementi’s most well-known and some lesser-known works are presented, including four preludes from Musical Character Pieces, two sonatinas, the famous Sonata in B-flat, two four-hand duets and a rondo for keyboard and flute, featuring flutist Byron W. Petty.

On his latest Navona Records release, Ritornello, composer and pianist Curt Cacioppo revisits his beloved Italy, recalling places, friends, Italian tales, Don Giovanni and more to create a detailed sonic story about his experiences and Italian heritage. Divertimenti in Italia reflect on different regions of Italy. From the Dalle Dolomiti All' Etna comes a group of seven piano pieces. Women at the Cross is a collection of depictions of women who are significant in the Passion of Jesus Christ.