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.