Cristina D'avena Rossana (feat. Nek)

Navona Records is proud to present SUBLIMITAS, a symphonic album bringing to life the posthumous works of composer Michael G. Cunningham. Performed by the Janáček Philharmonic Orchestra, Cunningham’s 5th and 6th Symphonies soar with spirited flair and clarity. These works are thoughtfully paired with his Mountain Poem, a jubilant and moving piece composed with musical peaks and valleys that simulate a thrilling adventure. As a composer whose works span 11 previous Navona Records releases, the works presented on SUBLIMITAS make for a delightful final parting gift from an artist who showed an unwavering dedication to sharing his music with the world.

Composed in three different moments (in Italy, Hanover and London), these delicious duets contain a lot of music that Handel later reused in great works like The Messiah, The Passion of Brockers, Solomon, Jubilate de Chandos, Alcina, Aquatic Music, Esther, Belshazzar , Judas Macabeo, Deborah or the Jubilate of Utrecht, to name a few. Technically very difficult, these jewels contain movements of great beauty and passages of enormous virtuosity that demonstrate not only the brilliance of Handel's vocal writing, but its insurmountable melodic sense and musical imagery. Rossana Bertini and Claudio Cavina, founders of Concerto Italiano, demonstrate the reason why they are considered among the most important specialists in baroque singing.

Esiste una testimonianza di J.J Quantz che parla dell’abilità di Conti come esecutore riferendosi ad un episodio accaduto a Praga nel 1723, quando l’orchestra di corte di Vienna eseguì l’opera Costanza e Fortezza di J.J. Fux con l’aggiunta di un gruppo di musicisti di Dresda, fra i quali lo stesso Quantz e Silvius Leopold Weiss, altro grande virtuoso di liuto e tiorba. A quest’ultimo fu assegnata una parte di ripieno, mentre il ruolo di solista fu affidato a Conti.

Tchaikovsky stayed in Aachen for six weeks in 1887, during which time he orchestrated his Mozartiana. He also left behind 16 bars of music from his diary, and the Aachener Walzer is André Parfenov’s completion of this otherwise unknown mini-waltz. Further works by Parfenov include a Violin Concerto on the subject of war, peace and human symbiosis, and a reflection on the life of a remarkable avant-garde painter in his Malevich Suite. Completing the framework for this recording is Tchaikovsky’s orchestral suite Mozartiana, which spotlights Mozart’s little-known smaller pieces to charming effect.

Rare manuscripts from the library of an Italian abbey, rediscovered and recorded for the first time.

During his long life, the priest, nobleman, poet, and painter from Rome, Ermenegildo del Cinque (1700–73) wrote over 100 sonatas for two cellos and eighteen pieces for three cellos. Although he was a dilettante di musica, he was the most prolific composer of cello music of all time. Yet despite the fact that he also composed cantatas, a serenata and some sacred music, and was a renowned cellist in Rome, he remains virtually unknown today, even among cellists. This recording, made in the theatre of the Palazzo Altemps in Rome where del Cinque often performed, rescues some of these extraordinarily beautiful compositions from oblivion.

This is the only recording of sacred music by the extraordinary 17th-century Venetian singer and composer Barbara Strozzi. The Latin works in her collection Sacri Affetti Musicali were entirely suitable for church performance–something Strozzi herself, as a woman outside a convent, was forbidden to do. Most likely she performed these pieces as "spiritual recreation" at meetings of the "Academy of the Unisons" founded by her father, a well-known poet.

In a very specific sense in 16th- and 17th-century Spain and again in today’s Mexico (and elsewhere in Latin America) the Spanish term son denotes a particular genre of music with certain common traits including a close association with dance, text composed of several verses (coplas) and a fundamental harmonic pattern unique to each son.

Songs of love and loss by a trio of early 18th century Spanish composers, showcasing the vocal art of a distinguished early-music soprano.