Category: New Release

Review: Yuko Mabuchi Trio Concert

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by Robert H. Levi Senior Associate Editor at Large, Positive Feedback Yuko Mabuchi plays the ivories with the touch of an angel and the understanding of an artist many times her young age. She is backed by seasoned musicians with strong drive plus an acute sense of playing with and not over the pianist. This is Yarlung’s third jazz album recorded like you wish all performances were recorded: listening is just like being there. All that’s missing here is the expensive tickets and sticky floor! The selection of mostly standards and stand-outs is delightful and hard to leave. I liked every one of them, particularly the All The Things You Are, Take The A Train, Satin Doll Medley and St. Thomas, a Sonny Rollins classic. The Japanese Medley was hauntingly gorgeous and intriguing. I played it twice in my first listening pass. The album is all about Yuko Mabuchi and Continue Reading →

Merry Christmas! A gift from the Sibelius Piano Trio

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Today marks the release of Sibelius Piano Trio in DSD, from executive producer Philip O’Hanlon.  Ann Mulally served as executive producer for the CD and HDTracks releases. Warm thanks to our executive producers, and to Juho, Petteri and Samuli who created this fabulous music at Segerstrom Center for the Arts. Our Gift to You! Enjoy this free download of the exhilarating final movement of Sibelius’ Korppoo Trio. Please read Mark Lehman’s review in The Absolute Sound. Artwork and liner notes are here. Have a wonderful holiday, and thank you so much for your support.  You made Yarlung’s 10th anniversary a year to remember. Sincerely and best wishes, Bob Attiyeh, producer www.yarlungartists.org www.yarlungrecords.com Sibelius Piano Trio DSD artwork. Click to enlarge.

Jim Matheson and Baird Dodge celebrate release of new CD

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The Chicago Symphony Orchestra celebrates Jim Matheson and Baird Dodge and the release of their new Yarlung CD The odds were slim that Baird Dodge, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra’s principal second violin, and James Matheson, a New York-based composer, would have met some 25 years ago while attending Swarthmore College. Though Dodge studied violin at The Juilliard School in its pre-college division, his undergraduate major at Swarthmore was chemistry. Matheson, born in the Midwest, was a philosophy and music major, yet his preferred instrument was electric guitar, which he played in a rock band. But strike up a friendship they did, and Dodge is the featured soloist with the CSO in a new CD release from Yarlung Records that features Matheson’s Violin Concerto, conducted by Esa-Pekka Salonen. A co-commission with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the piece was written for Dodge and recorded during its world premiere performances in December 2011 Continue Reading →

James Matheson Review: Stephen Greenbank, MusicWeb International, United Kingdom

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This is my first encounter with the music of James Matheson, an American composer whose music is both colourful and accessible. What better introduction could there be – a concerto, a string quartet and a song-cycle. The recording was sponsored by J and Helen Schlichting of California, who also commissioned the String Quartet. At 18 minutes the Quartet’s opening movement is the most substantial and ambitious. It begins with a swirling coruscation of sound, persistently driven and underpinned by motoric rhythms. There’s a feel of forward momentum and purposeful direction. In the central section, where the music is more relaxed, each instrument is given the opportunity to state its case. Then the energy returns in the form of declamatory sweeps. The slow movement is intensely lyrical, but the emotion is tinged with melancholy and sadness. At one point it reaches a passionate climax. The finale is, as it states on Continue Reading →

James Matheson

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Esa-Pekka Salonen conducts the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Baird Dodge, violin Color Field Quartet (members of CSO and Chicago Lyric Opera orchestra) soprano Laura Strickling & pianist Thomas Sauer Executive Producers: J and Helen Schlichting Music Samples Video Album booklet James Matheson | Esa-Pekka Solonen | Chicago Symphony Orchestra | Baird Dodge | Laura Strickling | Yarlung | Music Publisher NativeDSD | HDtracks | CD Let us know what you think. Matheson’s concerto is a supercharged showpiece for virtuoso violinist and orchestra that connects with the listener on a visceral as well as intellectual level. It keeps the soloist extremely busy as he negotiates a maze of vivid, colorful orchestral …. While neo-romantic in overall flavor, Matheson is original enough to shun the feel-good bromides that constitute so much of today’s “new” classical music. –John von Rhein, Chicago Tribune Unlike many younger composers who have a basic idea and then try to orchestrate it, Matheson writes in full orchestral Continue Reading →

Yarlung Records files using SonoruS Holographic Imaging

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Thank you for your interest in SonoruS Holographic Imaging.[1] Some people say it feels like the sonic equivalent of virtual reality. Friends who have heard demonstrations of SonoruS Holographic Imaging have remarked on a realistic three-dimensional sound stage and have appreciated the natural presence of the musicians and their placement within the acoustics of the concert hall.[2] If you have set up stereo speakers in your room correctly, this format can fill the room with musical information.  The free downloads on this page can help you decide if you like Holographic Imaging and if it works well in your stereo system.  If you don’t like the effect, or if the effect doesn’t work, please choose our regular stereo version of the same music. Please note! Yarlung’s SonoruS Holographic Imaging files do not work on headphones.  Moreover, they only work for one person sitting in the center.  Two people listening side-by-side on Continue Reading →

Sophisticated Lady jazz quartet: NEW RECORDINGS!

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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

Genesis DSD Quartet, new DSD downloads

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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

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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 →

Genesis Quartet by Yarlung Records

Yarlung introduces the Genesis Quartet

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Dear NativeDSD aficionados, Working with friends in the music business is part of why music is so enjoyable. This is certainly the case collaborating with the team at NativeDSD, and it is the case preparing music with Gary Koh, president of Genesis Advanced Technologies, who generously sponsored this new quartet of albums. Lucky audiophiles have heard and have then yearned someday to own the legendary G1 Genesis Loudspeakers. Fortunately, the company also designs more “family friendly” speakers and amplifiers, several of which Gary and I will use today for our first presentation of the DSD Genesis Quartet at Acoustic Image in Los Angeles. This quartet includes some of my favorite music in the Yarlung catalog, the transcendent percussion concerto by Toru Takemitsu, the stylish debut recording by American violinist Nigel Armstrong, Swiss cellist Frederic Rosselet playing Bach and Ligeti, and Petteri Iivonen, from Finland, treating us to his interpretations of Brahms and Ysaye. Continue Reading →