Tag: piano

Yuko Mabuchi Trio Vol. 1 Yarlung Records 45 RPM Vinyl

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“The Real Deal!” Anthony Kershaw reviews Yuko Mabuchi Trio Vol 1, 180 Gram pressing, 45RPM Diane and Craig Martin, executive producers (Randy Bellous, executive producer for CD) “Mabuchi is a jazz pianist blessed with taste, a gorgeous piano tone… superb improvisational skills and can swing. Unless we’re talking about the greats, many jazz pianists today may possess two or even three of those talents, but Mabuchi has all four. “The recording by Yarlung is an audiophile’s wet dream.” This was a very fortuitous vinyl find during a typical internet search of interesting LPs via Amazon, Discogs, eBay, you know, a basic Saturday morning record search. What’s good out there? What can I afford this weekend? … The 45 RPM mastering on this release was by Bernie Grundmann. So, the gold standard for an all-analogue LP. Japanese jazz pianist Yuko Mabuchi began playing piano at the age of 4. She was Continue Reading →

Symmetria Pario: Creation “My immediate reaction was to stand and cheer”

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When you take contemporary compositions from nine different composers (six of which were commissioned for your recital), and you add the brilliant artistry of Pekka Kuusisto and Joonas Ahonen, and you record it in a world class, acoustically magnificent music hall using some of the best microphones and recording equipment available, and you then mix it all together with the musical sensibilities of recording engineer and producer Bob Attiyeh… YOU GET MAGIC! After listening through this album for the first time, my immediate reaction was to stand and cheer.  Bob Attiyeh had told me that he thought this might be the best sounding recording Yarlung has yet released. I thought to myself, “Naw…, this is just your most recent child and you love it because of that.” But no. Bob is right. Sonically, this album is a masterpiece. Musically it is equally compelling.  Executive producer Russell Ward generously underwrote six Continue Reading →

Recorded in the Purest Possible Way, Yarlung’s “Women and War and Peace”

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[Women and War and Peace] is a musical wonder. It is a journey through time for female composers, some recognized in their day, others not. The pieces are approachable and melodic…. The Pianist: Katelyn Bouska, is extremely talented and plays with superb sophistication. With so many styles among the composers, she interprets each with an originality that is very special. I wish she was touring in America. What a magnificent pianist! Women of War and Peace is recorded in the purest possible way, sparing no expense. For a CD on a revealing system, the piano is in the room. This is very near the master tape sound with analog overtones. Textural cues are wonderful and rich. The piano image is solid and alive and exhibits no compression whatsoever. There is just enough ambiance and space to indicate a hall, with no sweetening. This is a reference piano recording of the first Continue Reading →

A Brilliant Recording by Katelyn Bouska on Yarlung Records

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02-22-2023 | By Rushton Paul | PFO, Issue 125 This is a brilliant new release by pianist Katelyn Bouska, recorded and mastered in Pure DSD256 by Bob Attiyeh of Yarlung Records. But what makes this recording truly special are the musical works selected and the stories of the composers, all women who were at the cutting edge of the contemporary music scenes in their various environments and were refugees, or barely survived, or didn’t survive the environments that made their situations so difficult. Women and War and Peace, Katelyn Bouska, piano. Yarlung Records 2023 (Pure DSD256) HERE [Alternative formats HERE] Print space is always limited, even in an online journal. But when there comes along a release of such exceptional merit, with such an exceptional story to share, and performed and recorded so brilliantly as this, then space must be made and priorities shifted. Not only is Katelyn Bouska, who teaches at the Curtis Continue Reading →