This New Music Friday, Navona and Ravello Records present modern chamber works that transport listeners to a variety of soundscapes, from the intimate and melancholy to the deeply evocative, all performed with brilliance and precision.
Dive in and discover new music from James Primosch, Kamala Sankaram, Vertex, The Merian Ensemble, Kristín Jónína Taylor, Paul Cohen, Stuart Weber, and Benda Quartet.
JOY, TOO
Kristin Gornstein, Jeremy Chan
Music about grief is a bit like medicine: most people don’t reach for it until they find themselves in need. The Vertex Duo might sympathize, having created just this medicine for the soul in the wake of some of their darkest biographical hours. The result is JOY, TOO, a curiously wonderful collection of melancholy songs — so lyrical and beautiful, one doesn’t have to be sad to want to listen to it.
THE BOOK OF SPELLS
The Merian Ensemble
Passion and intellect meld in THE BOOK OF SPELLS, the Merian Ensemble’s hotly anticipated debut album. THE BOOK OF SPELLS offers a gripping and intimate portrait of modern chamber music, performed with brilliance and precision by an ensemble of world-class soloists who are dedicated to the elevation of women’s voices in classical music.
MIDWEST PIANO SONATAS
Kristín Jónína Taylor
Pianist Kristín Jónína Taylor dives deep into the lyrical, evocative, and hauntingly beautiful works of three leading composers and educators from the Midwest United States on MIDWEST PIANO SONATAS. These profound spectrums of musicality and feeling are conveyed with stunning clarity by Taylor, an award-winning pianist lauded for her mesmerizing performances of nuance and depth.
OF LIGHT AND SOLACE
Paul Cohen
Paul Cohen’s OF LIGHT AND SOLACE highlights music by several 20th century composers whose work is deeply engaged with both the tradition and innovation of classical music. Evocative, contemplative, and teeming with emotional depth, these works explore and expand upon the liturgical canon, offering instrumental expressions in Gregorian Chant, fresh takes on the iconic Amazing Grace, and more.
MISSOURI BREAKS
Stuart Weber, Benda Quartet
MISSOURI BREAKS from composer and guitarist Stuart Weber is a musical meditation on the tension between natural history and modernity. In collaboration with the Benda Quartet, Weber’s work is largely set in the untamed American West. Weber is deeply familiar with his subject matter, as he credits his upbringing in the Northern Rocky Mountains for giving him the time and space to develop as an artist.
