March 12, 2021 New Releases from Navona and Big Round Records

We are pleased to present four new albums this New Music Friday from Navona and Big Round Records, including original jazz written in response to COVID-era racism and the unrest of 2020, viola piano duets, orchestral stories, and an opera based on the life of a writer in crisis under the Third Reich.

Dive in and discover new music this week from: Janáček Philharmonic Orchestra, Jeff Mangels, Dave Dexter, William C. White, Simon Andrews, Rain Worthington, Allen Brings, John A. Carollo, John Franek, Rosśa Crean, Jordan VanHemert, Stanley Grill, and Brett Deubner.

The album SPARKS VOL. 2 couldn’t be more aptly named, as bows bend and sparks fly in this vibrant collection of pieces for string orchestra. Bound to please modernists and traditionalists  alike, this eclectic collection contains pieces by Dave Dexter, William C. White, Simon Andrews, Rain  Worthington, Allen Brings, John Carollo, John Franek, and Jeff Mangels. While the pool of  inspiration might be diverse – ancient myths, dance, chaos, rites of passage, reflection and  homesickness for a place which (may have) never existed – the pieces are united by their display of raw musical energy, an undercurrent of longing, as well as profundity in both technical and  emotional terms.

On THE PRIESTESS OF MORPHINE, composer Rosśa Crean and librettist Aiden K. Feltkamp create a beautifully haunting portrait of a Gertrud Günther, a young Jewish lesbian caught between her two selves during the Third Reich, who bravely sought her inner truth and passions while forced to live in the shadows.

I AM NOT A VIRUS from composer Jordan VanHemert and Big Round Records, is a collection of contemporary music uniquely fitting for this unprecedented juncture in human history. Called an “excellent outing” by jazz historian Scott Yanow, the collection of lively, piano-driven jazz band performances takes inspiration from a wide swath of timely subjects—everything from the coronavirus pandemic to racially charged police killings and the resulting Black Lives Matter protests of 2020.

Stanley Grill’s REMEMBER is presented by Navona Records. Featuring viola and piano, these inventive works aptly demonstrate Grill’s unique style; rooted in his passion for medieval and Renaissance music, his compositions are as pioneering and contemporary as they are fundamentally traditional.