Category: Review

Andrew Quint reviews “James Matheson” for The Absolute Sound

Posted on by

Matheson: Violin Concerto, String Quartet, Times Alone. Music, Video and Downloads Yarlung Record’s program produced and financed by the musical philanthropists J and Helen Schlichting of Southern California, is an excellent introduction to the notable American composer James Matheson. Matheson, now in his mid-40s, wrote his Violin Concerto for Baird Dodge, principal second violinist of the Chicago Symphony — and once the composer’s roommate at Swarthmore College. All of Matheson’s music has a bold, cinematic flair. His writing for solo violin is highly idiomatic and virtuosic; the orchestral contribution is extravagantly colorful. Matheson employs an advanced tonal syntax and confidently cites other styles as he makes his argument: the central Chaconne of the Concerto references the slow movement from Mahler’s Sixth Symphony and the energetic finale strongly suggests bluegrass. Esa-Pekka Salonen was on the podium leading the CSO for the world premiere recorded here in December of 2011. Dodge joined Continue Reading →

James Matheson

Posted on by

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 →

Classics Today Review: “Sasha Cooke’s Captivating Orchestral Songs”

Posted on by

Yarlung| Amazon | NativeDSD | HDTracks | iTunes  Excerpts from a review on Classics Today of Sasha Cooke — “If You Love for Beauty” — by David Vernier American mezzo-soprano Sasha Cooke… has a voice of substance, lustrous and silver-toned, especially rich and vibrant in the lower register, with the assured technique of one who has the goods and just knows what to do with her gift…. She characterizes the mood, various colors, and moments of rising intensity, or more “dreamy” or reflective passages in the Chausson Poème particularly well, expertly abbetted on all counts by a very fine orchestra and its sensitive music director Yehuda Gilad. Cooke’s voice has the size and expressive range to sustain focus on and interest in whatever she is doing, in true collaboration with an orchestra that’s sizable and exceptionally colorful in its own right. Throughout the Chausson, and also in the Mahler (excellent solo horn and Continue Reading →

Yarlung Records, Segerstrom Center, Magico, Ciaramella

Posted on by

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 →

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

Posted on by

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 →

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

Posted on by

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 →

Sophisticated Lady jazz quartet

Posted on by

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

Posted on by

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 →

Jim Svejda Review of The Colburn Orchestra Mahler Symphoney

Posted on by

hdTracks | iTunes | Native DSD | SoundCloud  | Yarlung Records Mahler Symphony No. 5 in C-sharp minor.  Gerard Schwarz, cond., The Colburn Orchestra.  YARLUNG 41014 (64:00). By any standard, this is a superlative Mahler Fifth; given that it’s a live performance by a student orchestra, it’s frankly jaw-dropping. Though less well known than Eastman, Juilliard, Curtis or the New England Conservatory, the Colburn School in downtown Los Angeles is one of America’s top-flight musical institutions– as may be gathered from the fact that it currently fields an orchestra every bit the equal of any of its venerable eastern rivals.  But then again, with the American Youth Symphony, the Young Musicians Foundation Debut Orchestra, the USC Thornton Symphony and the UCLA Philharmonia – several of which are more than capable of mopping the floor with the highly touted Simon Bolivar Youth Orchestra – Los Angeles has a fair claim to being Continue Reading →

Myles Astor review in PFO of Smoke & Mirrors Percussion Ensemble

Posted on by

HDtracks | iTunes  | Native DSD Volume 1 | Native DSD Volume 2 | SoundCloud | Yarlung Records Myles Astor, New York, writing for PFO, December 11th, 2013 Reel-to-reel Recording of the Year: Smoke & Mirrors Percussion Ensemble, Yarlung Records. Steve Reich: Nagoya Marimbas; Lou Harrison: Canticle No.3; Maurice Ravel: Sonatine. Producer and engineer: Bob Attiyeh. 15-ips/2-track, CCIR, Yarlung Records. In contrast to past years, there was absolutely no shortage of candidates in this category including The Tape Project’s Lee Morgan Sidewinder, International Phonograph’s Ravi Shankar in Luxembourg, 1980 and Opus 3’s One, Vol. 2 Sampler tape. When push came to shove, however, Yarlung Records newly recorded and released Smoke & Mirrors walked away with this year’s top prize! This single, roughly 31 minute reel, features a potpourri of percussion music from a trio of 20th century composers ranging from the likes of Steve Reich to Lou Harrison to Maurice Ravel. Each track is a musical and sonic spectacular with Continue Reading →