Tag: Review

Carlos Guzmán raves about Smoke & Mirrors

Posted on by

Mono & Stereo Senior Contributor Carlos Guzmán raves about Smoke & Mirrors: “…the sound of this production is exquisite. A great ambiance is captured in this tape and the effortless flow of music is graciously submitted with precision and focus. The instrument timbres are accurate and the performance is second to none. “…Game of Clocks [by Argentine composer Diego Schissi] is a valuable tool for audiophiles evaluating Hi End equipment as it’s capable to exhibit the weakness and strength of the gear in question. “…Geographical Fugue is highly adventurous and novel. I was so engaged in the Game of Clocks flow that when the next track opened with a loud “TRINIDAD” I jumped [off] my sofa…! Very ingenious combination of percussion and vocal performance. “The quality achieved by the Yarlung’s team is excellent and their commitment to their label is clearly expressed in their recordings. The use and combination of 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 →

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 →

The Absolute Sound – Yarlung Records Makes A Splash

Posted on by

Yarlung Records Makes A Splash By Jeff Wilson   |  Aug 13th, 2014 Categories: Jazz, Classical One of the pleasures of experiencing a second golden age of audio is witnessing all the ways record labels keep evolving. Take, for example, Yarlung Records, a California- based company that, when it was launched in 2005, was just one more small label in the increasingly sink-or-swim music industry. Almost ten years later Yarlung remains, in the words of owner Bob Attiyeh (uh-TEA-yuh), “too small to fail,” yet its list of accomplishments points to the success a label can achieve when it combines carefully-chosen performances with superb-sounding recordings. Case in point: In 2010 Yarlung won a Grammy for Antonio Lysy at The Broad: Music from Argentina, a recording that also earned a spot on the list of top forty best-sounding recordings TAS compiled in Issue 234. A big part of Yarlung’s success comes from its Continue Reading →

Mahler Symphony No. 5 in C-sharp minor – Gerard Schwarz

Posted on by

CD | Amazon | iTunes | HDtracks | NativeDSD | SoundCloud | 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 Continue Reading →

Nigel Armstrong :: Voix des Arts, Joseph Newsome

Posted on by

Amazon iTunes Yarlung Records High Res 24 bit Voix des Arts, Joseph Newsome November 1st, 2014 CD REVIEW: Johann Sebastian Bach, Béla Bartók, & Erich Wolfgang Korngold – VIOLIN SONATAS & CONCERTO (Nigel Armstrong, violin; Yarlung Records 65007) JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH (1685 – 1750): Violin Sonata No. 3 in C major, BWV 1005; BÉLA BARTÓK (1881 – 1945): Sonata for Solo Violin, Sz. 117, BB 124; and ERICH WOLFGANG KORNGOLD (1897 – 1957): Violin Concerto in D major, Op. 35—Nigel Armstrong, violin; The Colburn Orchestra; Sir Neville Marriner, conductor [Recorded in performance in Royce Hall, UCLA, Los Angeles, California, USA, on 13 February 2011 (Korngold) and at the Brain and Creativity Institute’s Cammilleri Hall, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, 21 – 23 October 2013 (Bach, Bartók); Yarlung Records 65007; 1 CD, 67:29; Available from Amazon, ClassicsOnline, jpc, iTunes, Presto Classical, and major music retailers] Few decisions are more important to the Continue Reading →