Tag: Vinyl

Jacob Heilbrunn writes about “Absolutely Astounding New LPs From Yarlung Records”

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–Jacob Heilbrunn Tracking Angle VIOLINIST PETTER IIVONEN AND MEZZO-SOPRANO SASHA COOKE EACH DELIVER MESMERIZING PERFORMANCES Everything about Yarlung Records’ new album featuring the violinist Petteri Iivonen, the concertmaster of the Paris Opera, screams retro. The cover, a closeup photo of Iivonen, is in black-and-white, the violin is a 1767 Ferdinandus Gagliano, and the performance itself was recorded with an AKG-C-24 microphone with the original brass surround CK12 tube. But the LP itself could not sound more contemporary—deathly quiet, transparent and lucid. My 45rpm pressing had nary a tick or pop when I played it on my TechDAS Air Force Zero turntable. All the virtues of digital without any of its nasty artifacts, in other words, are present. The result is a humdinger of a recording of Bach’s Partita No. 2 in D minor. Bach wrote the Sonatas and Partitas for solo violin in 1720, when he was thirty-five-years-old and court Continue Reading →

Earth & Wood: “Flawless”

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Writing about Yarlung executive producers Diane and Craig Martin‘s most recent release Earth & Wood, featuring Smoke & Mirrors percussion ensemble, page 29 of Tone Audio Issue No. 116 celebrates: Yarlung Records’ latest is not only a flawless recording, it’s incredibly engaging on a musical level as well. This is one to keep the beat going as we get into the issue! Many thanks to Tone Audio‘s maestro Jeff Dorgay and Abey Fonn from Elusive Disc for this wonderful splash. More information about Smoke & Mirrors percussion ensemble and their Yarlung Releases available on the website.

Michael Fremer writes about Earth & Wood: “Sonically Spectacular”

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A Sonically Spectacular Percussion Record Worth Repeated Plays —Michael Fremer, Tracking Angle COMPOSITIONS BY LOU HARRISON AND STEVE REICH PLUS A WORLD PREMIER CO-COMMISSIONED BY THE ENSEMBLE Recorded during the same 2011 and 2012 Zipper Hall, Los Angeles sessions that produced the remarkable percussion record “Smoke & Mirrors” (Yarlung 17255-195V), “Earth & Wood” is another sonic spectacular recorded directly to tape using a single AKG C24 stereo microphone (with Elliot Midwood mic amplification). The one-mike recording technique required “just so” placement of both it and the seven member Smoke and Mirrors Percussion Ensemble that performed the intricate pieces “without a net”. The quartet tackles on side one of the 45rpm LP Lou Harrison’s early 1940’s piece “Canticle No. 3” for ocarina (Italian for “little flute”) and percussion. Joe Beribak plays an earthen Aztec/Mayan ocarina, Derek Tywoniuk adds steel guitar to the exotic assortment of percussion instruments that include both standard Continue Reading →

The Absolute Sounds adds “Young Beethoven” to the famous SUPER LP LIST!

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The Absolute Sound celebrated six Yarlung vinyl titles on the TAS Super LP list again in 2020, and I’m delighted to say that Young Beethoven executive produced by Carlos and Haydee Mollura featuring performances both explosive and subtle by Janaki String Trio now joins as Number 7! Check out Young Beethoven in multiple formats here. Thanks also to Mr. Stephen Estep for his glowing article about Young Beethoven last March.

Michael Fremer reviews “Lifeline” LP

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Michael Fremer remains one of the chief analog gods in the world of music writers and critics.  We might call him Wotan, except that Mr. Fremer hasn’t yet made a rash decision that costs the cosmos its future.  Michael writes that Lifeline: Music of the Underground Railroad is “an intensely transparent and three-dimensional recording produced live in front of an audience in the 500 seat Samueli Theater at Segerstrom Center for the Arts in Costa Mesa, California….  “The sound is intensely three-dimensional, especially the sensation of being in the audience when the deserved applause come after each performance. The singers appear before you convincingly effectively spread across the stage, bathed but not buried…. “Yarlung’s recording engineer Arian Jensen and producer and label owner Bob Attiyeh used Agfa 468 tape on a SonoruS ATR12 recorder employing SonoruS Holographic Imaging technology. Whatever that is, works.  An AKG C24 stereo microphone captured it Continue Reading →

James Matheson on “New Music Box”

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BY JAMES MATHESON OCTOBER 19, 2016 Originally Published on NewMusicBox.com If experience is the primary generator of wisdom, it’s unfortunate that wisdom often comes at a high and sometimes painful price. All told, I can recall moving 22 times since I was an undergraduate, with at least another half dozen moves before then. Usually I would throw everything I owned in a car and drive. Eventually I started renting U-Hauls.  The last couple of moves I hired movers, like grown-ups do. Everywhere I went I took my crates of LPs. AC/DC, Zeppelin, Psychedelic Furs, Solti’s complete Ring Cycle with Birgit Nilsson, Dorati’s complete Haydn Symphonies, most of Zappa’s records – and many more. In one of the later moves, my Denon turntable broke. And I now had crates of CDs to drag around, too. Perhaps, dear Reader, you can feel where this tale of too-late wisdom is heading… In 2012 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