January 27, 2023 New Releases from Navona and Big Round Records

This New Music Friday, Navona and Big Round Records present new and unique voices in contemporary chamber music, building on celebrated styles and unearthing an all-new genre.

Dive in and discover new music from Michael Nix, Rita Costanzi, Alex Klein, Frank Felice, and Amaro Dubois.

APERÇU delivers a remarkable collection of music in which composer and banjo innovator Michael Nix challenges listeners to reimagine the banjo as an instrument. Brought to life by Nix’s 7-string Banjar, the album incorporates various folk and classical styles to forge a newfangled genre: New Classical Banjo.

Harpist Rita Costanzi and oboist Alex Klein demonstrate the synergy of their instruments on AMOROSO, a romantic album of intimate chamber music. Well-known classics by Debussy, Fauré, Massenet, Rachmaninoff, Piazzolla, and Rodrigo shine in a new light, and two new, fittingly romantic pieces by contemporary composers Michael Cohen and Michael Amorosi perfectly complete this wonderful picture

Frank Felice, an eclectic composer celebrated for his postmodern mischievousness, explores his own brand of “consonant adiatonicism” in THE BEAUTY OF INNUENDOS. Felice sets a variety of texts to music throughout this album, ranging from the antiphons of 9th century Christian mystic Hildegard of Bingen to the modernist poetry of Wallace Stevens.

LUZ from violist Amaro Dubois is a collection of works highlighting the beauty of Latin American music for viola and piano. Joined by pianist Tingting Yao, the violist brings to life several newly-commissioned works, a beautiful collaboration between eight composers from five different countries.