Author: Yarlung Records

GRAMMY® Award winning Yarlung Records brings fresh musicians to the classical music world using minimalist audiophile recording techniques to deliver sound as close to living performance as possible. Rather than using recording studios, engineer Bob Attiyeh produces these albums in concert halls famous for their acoustics

The Absolute Sound Super LP List 2020

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Jonathan Valin’s famous resource for vinyl lovers, the Super LP List in The Absolute Sound, honored Yarlung’s Janaki String Trio release on 45RPM vinyl from executive producer Elliot Midwood in 2016.  Jonathan praises this Janaki disc for its particularly natural sound.  Since 2016, the Super LP list has added these additional Yarlung titles: Ciaramella Dances from executive producer Elliot Midwood Antonio Lysy at The Broad: Music from Argentina Smoke & Mirrors percussion ensemble from executive producers David & Margie Barry Sophisticated Lady Jazz Quartet from executive producers Ann & Bill Harmsen Sasha Cooke’s If You Love For Beauty from executive producer Jim Mulally Thank you to the superb musicians, lacquer engineers and pressing plants who have made this success possible.  We appreciate it! –Bob Attiyeh, producer

Rushton Paul writes about “Sacred Trance Music from Taos Mountain”

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“Go to your quiet place, turn out the lights, transport to the original recording session with these musicians. The sound quality is that good—immersive, translucent, and transcending. And the musical performances are that subtle, seductive, and enveloping. “Bob Attiyeh, Yarlung Records, has ever been an adventurous supporter of new, emerging artists. His recordings have long been favorites of mine. And he does not disappoint with this new release…. “At present, Habib is in the middle of two-year pilgrimage, studying the teachings, history, culture and music of venerated Sufi teachers and saints in India, Pakistan and other parts of the world. Habib is studying and absorbing more of this rich tradition to incorporate into his own spiritual, musical and practice. He looks forward to sharing these traditions and the experience of universal unity they inspire more fully with the world in coming years. Here he is, a traveler and seeker of Continue Reading →

Timothy Mangan reviews Tarik O’Regan’s “All Things Common”

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“fluent and sumptuous” Tarik O’Regan “handles the choir with panache; there seems not an unpolished moment in any of these pieces, and many a ravishing one, as O’Regan is a choral ‘orchestrator…’” “O’Regan creates layers of sound in many of his pieces, different strata that unfurl simultaneously but that remain distinct. His “Ecstasies Above,” based on Poe’s poem and the longest piece in the collection, is written for two solo vocal quartets, chorus and string quartet, and gives him many opportunities for spatial effects.” “Perhaps the “Magnificat & Nunc Dimittis” shows off O’Regan’s chops mostly blatantly — combining canons, minimalism, plainchant, a vocal quartet, full choir and solo cello in a wonderfully broad sound palette.” “Istad fashions fluent and sumptuous readings, nicely held together over the long haul. Each piece is represented by a single take on the recording, no splices. Minor blemishes are therefore heard here and there, but Continue Reading →

Remy Franck comments on Tarik O’Regan’s All Things Common in Pizzicato, Luxumbourg

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Contemporary Choral Works of Great Beauty ♪♪♪♪♪ Yarlung’s CD All Things Common includes Choral compositions by Tarik O’Regan.  Music Director Robert Istad leads the singers of the Pacific Chorale. This is spirited repertoire, often sung with great beauty. The seven largely tonal works, composed between 2011 and 2019, can be heard here in enchanting performances.  Catalog number YAR02592 Read Remy Franck’s comments in German All Things Common album page Yarlung Records · All Things Common: Choral music by Tarik O’Regan

Ty Webb discusses Janaki Trio’s “Young Beethoven” LP in Stereophile’s Analog Planet

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Janaki String Trio’s Young Beethoven Is Musical and Sonic Gold Yarlung 180g 45rpm LP lacquers cut by Bernie Grundman In this, the 250th anniversary of Ludwig van Beethoven’s birthday, Yarlung Records offers a recording worthy of the master, a delectation from the Janaki String Trio…. …supremely self-assured emplacement of the violin, viola and cello in their respective positions in the soundstage.…  There is no smearing, no blurring, no nothing to interfere with your enjoyment of the music. This crack ensemble was in its matutinal hours during this performance, but it remains a treat to listen to this recording. Yarlung, you could even say, with this LP has hit a hole in one. –Ty Webb, writing for Analog Planet, September 28th, 2020  Read the article here. Mr. Webb gives Young Beethoven 10 for the music and 10 for sound.   Young Beethoven and Janaki String Trio debut are two 180 Gram 45rpm vinyl Continue Reading →

Yuko Mabuchi Trio, Volume 2 | By Eddie Carter

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I’d reached the end of a very long day and was ready to relax and unwind with some piano jazz. I went to the library and came across Yuko Mabuchi Trio, Volume 2 (Yarlung Records YAR71621-161V). The second LP from the trio’s live performance at The Brain and Creativity Institute’s Cammilleri Hall with bandmates, Del Atkins on bass and Bobby Breton on drums. The concert honored the 25th Anniversary of The Los Angeles and Orange County Audio Society, plus President and CEO, Bob Levi’s 70th Birthday.  My copy used in this report is the 2018 45-rpm Stereo Audiophile release. Yuko starts Side One with a trio of solo standards, All The Things You Are by Jerome Kern and Oscar Hammerstein II, Take The “A” Train by Billy Strayhorn, and Satin Doll by Duke Ellington, Strayhorn, and Johnny Mercer.  She begins with a stunningly beautiful interpretation capturing the song’s romanticism. Yuko Continue Reading →

Don Saltzman writes about “Lifeline: Music of the Underground Railroad” in The Absolute Sound

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Yarlung takes that bold step beyond reissuing older recordings: they make new recordings of interesting music with outstanding musicians.  They are to be applauded for the effort alone.  I have been to a few of their recording sessions and can report that along with the quality of the performance, they take recording and sound quality as their highest priorities.  Many of their recordings are available on vinyl and CD, while all of them are available as high-resolution digital downloads.  I downloaded many of their recordings to my computer, but for now I listened primarily to a new recording… called Lifeline.  Lifeline is a collection of beautiful spirituals recorded by Yarlung at Segerstrom Hall in Costa Mesa, California.  The songs are performed by the Lifeline Quartet and feature spirituals from the Civil War era and earlier.  The singers are spectacular; in particular, the power and range of Michelle Mayne-Graves will give Continue Reading →

Yuko Mabuchi: Dee Dee McNeil

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Jazz Impresario Dee Dee McNeil reviews Yarlung’s 15th Anniversary release of the iconic “YUKO MABUCHI PLAYS MILES DAVIS” Yuko Mabuchi, piano; JJ Kirkpatrick, trumpet; Del Atkins, bass; Bobby Breton, drums; Bob Attiyeh, Producer. One of the things that always impresses me about Yuko Mabuchi is her ability to transform familiar songs into shiny, new, gem-like pieces.  For example, on her presentation of “All Blues,” (arranged on her tribute to Miles Davis album), she turns the waltz-time upside down by playing the piece in 5/4 and 4/4 time.  It works!  She follows this pleasant surprise with a poignant and heart-felt analysis of “Blue in Green.”  You may remember that Bill Evans and Miles Davis composed this one and it’s a star on the ‘Kind of Blue’ album. This is such an emotionally heavy song and pianist, Yuko Mabuchi, along with JJ Kirkpatrick on trumpet, squeeze out every ounce of beauty.  I Continue Reading →

Michael Fremer reviews “Lifeline” LP

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Michael Fremer remains one of the chief analog gods in the world of music writers and critics.  We might call him Wotan, except that Mr. Fremer hasn’t yet made a rash decision that costs the cosmos its future.  Michael writes that Lifeline: Music of the Underground Railroad is “an intensely transparent and three-dimensional recording produced live in front of an audience in the 500 seat Samueli Theater at Segerstrom Center for the Arts in Costa Mesa, California….  “The sound is intensely three-dimensional, especially the sensation of being in the audience when the deserved applause come after each performance. The singers appear before you convincingly effectively spread across the stage, bathed but not buried…. “Yarlung’s recording engineer Arian Jensen and producer and label owner Bob Attiyeh used Agfa 468 tape on a SonoruS ATR12 recorder employing SonoruS Holographic Imaging technology. Whatever that is, works.  An AKG C24 stereo microphone captured it Continue Reading →

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Paul Seydor reviews Sasha Cooke’s “If You Love For Beauty” in “The Absolute Sound”

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If You Love for Beauty.  Sasha Cooke. Colburn Orchestra, Gilad. Yarlung (LP). “Every once in a while, there come along singers who have a quality of singing so beautifully, and touchingly, that it kind of makes you cry, just the sound of their voice,” observed Michael Tilson Thomas.  “I think Sasha Cooke is one of those people.”  He’s right, so it’s curious Cooke isn’t better known after performing with many of the leading opera companies, symphony orchestras, and conductors; winning two Grammies; and boasting repertoire from the baroque to contemporary avant-garde.  Recorded in analog with minimal miking, Cooke’s debut album has been available on CD since 2012, but Yarlung has now released it on vinyl.  Cooke’s ravishing voice is complemented by her sensitivity and imagination, apparent in the depth of feeling and lyricism she imparts to Mahler’s Rückert–Lieder. Also on the program are two Handel arias, including a powerful performance Continue Reading →