Yarlung Records, Segerstrom Center, Magico, Ciaramella

Magico Speakers | Ciaramella Dances For Yarlung’s recording at The Segerstrom Center for the Arts  in early November, 2015, we will take our microphone test tracks to nearby Scott Walker Audio for a final check of levels and balance.  Coincidentally, the Magico speakers Scott uses are featured in this newsletter from The Absolute Sound (presented here with permission of the publisher).  Yarlung was delighted to see a glowing review of our first 45 RPM vinyl release Ciaramella Dances in this same newsletter.  Enjoy! And thank you. This November recording, J Schlichting executive producer, celebrates the music of James Matheson,  who will be with us during the sessions.  Color Field Quartet from the Chicago Symphony plays Jim’s string quartet, and soprano Laura Strickling and pianist Tom Sauer join us from New York for Jim’s song cycle Times Alone.  These two works will accompany Jim’s violin concerto, with Baird Dodge as soloist with the Continue Reading →

Sophisticated Lady jazz quartet: NEW RECORDINGS!

Vinyl | CD-1 | CD-2 | Amazon CD | iTunes  | HDtracks  | SoundCloud | Native DSD Vol 1  | Native DSD Vol 2 | Reviews Sophisticated Lady is a Los Angeles-based Jazz Quartet. The group is a traditional jazz quartet rooted in the sounds, styles and history of jazz and brings a fresh approach to this music. With a mix of original compositions and new interpretations of classic repertoire this quartet has a sound and aesthetic that is both familiar and new. The group formed when the musicians met during their graduate studies at USC. Misha Adair Bigos, pianist; JJ Kirkpatrick, trumpet; Andrew Boyle, drums; Gary Wicks, bass www.sophisticatedladyjazz.com

Michael Fremer gives “Ciaramella Dances” an 11 out of 10 for sound!

The Great Michael Fremer gives “Ciaramella Dances” an 11 out of 10 for sound! …the recording sounds… closely miked, yet still wonderfully spacious and natural. Instruments are convincingly spread across the stage…. The music covers “grounds” from Spain, Italy and England…. These mostly mirth-filled tunes sound something like what you’d expect to hear at an outdoor June wedding held in a garden and you might expect the group to break into Pachelbel’s Canon in D, but thankfully they don’t…. (there’s also a new composition “The Fisher and Fox” by group co-director Adam Knight Gilbert). Side two begins with Alessandro Piccinini’s “Chiaccona in partite variate”, which has a chord progression familiar to any rocker or folkie. As much pleasure as the melodic compositions and spirited playing bring, an additional highlight is the superb, minimally miked recording (a single AKG C24 tubed “stereo” unit), produced to analog recording tape at USC’s Alfred Continue Reading →

LAOCAS Humanitarian Award for 2015 goes to Bob Attiyeh and Yarlung Records

The Los Angeles and Orange County Audio Society awards its Founder’s Award every year at the annual gala in December. But for only the second time in the Society’s history, the president and board of LAOCAS has decided to award The Humanitarian Award. The Society recognizes Bob Attiyeh from GRAMMY® Award-winning Yarlung Records in appreciation of the label’s outstanding audiophile recordings and the good work Yarlung does to support young musicians in the early stages of their international concert careers as well as the recordings they make with already internationally recognized artists. Repertoire ranges from medieval and Renaissance music through the classical and romantic eras to newly-commissioned and world-premiere recordings in the 21st century. Yarlung also records world music and jazz. 2015 marks Yarlung’s 10th Anniversary. The Los Angeles and Orange County Audio Society uses The Humanitarian Award to recognize the very best in audio, particularly where it serves a Continue Reading →

Dr. David W. Robinson, Postive Feedback, and DSD

Our greatest and most important ambassador for high resolution DSD playback of music files may be Dr. David W. Robinson, audiophile and Editor-in-Chief of Positive Feedback, the famed online audio magazine based in Oregon.  David became a friend some years ago and his encouragement and downright insistence have inspired success for Yarlung Records in two distinct arenas. First, David was one of the first and most important reviewers to write high-visibility articles on Yarlung’s releases on analog tape.  He fell in love with our SonoruS Series of recordings. The SonoruS Series of analog tapes  Second and more recently, David convinced us that he and his readers and listening friends around the world wanted access to the highest resolution digital transfers of these tapes, and that we needed to create 256fs[1] DSD files of this music, sampled at 11.2 megaherz, which is 4 times the speed of a Super Audio CD and Continue Reading →

Primephonic names Yarlung Records “label of the month”

Primephonic celebrates Yarlung as Label of the Month: “Yarlung Records is a Grammy Award-winning American record label, that specializes in classical music. The label is widely acknowledged for its high-quality recordings that live up to the audiophiles standards.” Please read more on primephonic’s website.  Thank you, primephonic, for your generous and much appreciated support. “On the occasion of Yarlung Records’ 10 years anniversary, we would like to highlight the label as primephonic’s label of the month. Yarlung’s vision is to deliver sound as close to living performance as possible. The label’s name ‘Yarlung’ has been derived from the Yarlung Valley, or ‘Valley of the Kings’, in Tibet. The valley is known to be a magical birthplace, a place where heaven and earth meet. Yarlung’s logo refers to a Yambulakhang Castle located in the valley, and this castle is believed to be where heaven and earth touch in order to transform Continue Reading →

Antonio Lysy vinyl, Audio Beat review: Te Amo, Argentina

Vinyl  | CD |   CD on Amazon | Vinyl on Amazon CD | iTunes  | HDtracks  | SoundCloud | Native DSD Vol 1  |  NativeDSD Vol 2  | Audio Beat Review Guy Lemcoe reviews new Steve-Hoffman-mastered 180-Gram vinyl tango album, lacquers cut by Bernie Grundman A few excerpts from the review: Side two opens with Astor Piazzolla’s “Milonga del ángel,” an intoxicatingly lovely piece featuring Lysy’s cello with Philip Levy on violin. Languid and sultry, it’s Piazzolla through and through. Next is “Omaramor” for solo cello by Argentinian classical composer Osvaldo Golijov. The recording is the sonic equal of the legendary Mercury Living Presence recordings of Janos Starker’s Bach cello suites — liquid, woody, resonant and, when necessary, wiry. Veteran jazz and soundtrack composer Lalo Schfrin contributes the album’s closer, the introspective, brooding, calming “Pampas” for cello and piano.   The LP I received was a perfectly flat, thick slab of flat-edged, 180-gram vinyl pressed at Pallas in Germany, so I knew Continue Reading →

Genesis DSD Quartet, new DSD downloads

Genesis Advanced Technologies sponsored Yarlung’s new quartet of High Res DSD downloads, including Sir Neville Marriner, Frederic Rosselet, Petteri Iivonen, Smoke & Mirrors percussion ensemble, Gerard Schwarz, The Colburn Orchestra and Nigel Armstrong: Click here to connect directly with NativeDSD.com to download the music We sampled Elliot Midwood’s 45 RPM 180-Gram pressing of Ciaramella Dances, our March release. Thank you Adam, Rotem and Elliot, our executive producer. http://www.yarlungrecords.com/news/ciaramella-dances/ To celebrate the 100th birthday of Billie Holiday last week, we debuted the first 180 Gram vinyl pressing from Sophisticated Lady jazz quartet, with the ensembles improvisation on “Strange Fruit.” Thank you Ann and Bill Harmsen, executive producers! http://www.yarlungrecords.com/news/sophisticated-lady-jazz/ Our most heartfelt thanks to Gary Koh and Genesis Advanced Technologies for sponsoring the Genesis Quartet.  A thousand thanks also to Elliot Midwood and Nita Millstein for hosting our presentation at Acoustic Image.  Nita, you baked the most spectacular coffee cake for us! Continue Reading →

Sophisticated Lady jazz quartet

Vinyl | CD |  Amazon CD | iTunes  | HDtracks  | SoundCloud | Native DSD Vol 1  | Native DSD Vol 2 | TAS Review CD from executive producer John Pruit 180-Gram vinyl from executive producer Ann & Bill Harmsen   Look out Brubeck, Sophisticated Lady’s remarkable debut should perhaps be re-titled TAKE ONE. Why? Each tune was captured in one take! –David Thomson, Record Collector News Yarlung Records did it again. This time it’s their first jazz entry that has golden warmth of a Blue Note from its heyday as well as visceral instruments presence of a Contemporary Records. … the texture is so rich that you can easily discern which parts of the drum set the player hits and rubs. –Mori Shima, Stereo Sound, Japan I like “Sophisticated Lady.”  A unique voice.  Great improvising.  One can hear everything on this recording, all the nuances and textures.  I can really listen to this music because they have their own classic style.  So much jazz is all the Continue Reading →

Ciaramella Dances

Vinyl | CD | Analog Tape | Amazon vinyl | Amazon CD | iTunes | HDtracks| SoundCloud CD from executive producer Arian Jansen 45 RPM 180-Gram vinyl from executive producer Elliot Midwood … a jewel.  Alive with definition, the “you are there” sound pops into the room….  Best imaging, pacing, and sense of verisimilitude… It is the best LP I have heard all around in 30 years. — Robert H. Levi, PFO I had a few minutes on Saturday when I got to the office and listened to Ciaramella. I was gob-smacked. It’s easily one of the best sounding LPs I have. –Gary Koh, Genesis Advanced Technologies …when these extremely talented musicians begin to play, their liveliness and freshness is almost palpable…. And when it is played like this, the sounds of 300 years ago sound as if they were made only yesterday. –Robert Stroble, Toccata-Alte Musik aktuell Dances on Continue Reading →