Category: Vinyl

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 →

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 →

“I have not ever heard, in my lifetime, a better solo violin LP…”

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Bob Levi responds to Petteri Iivonen’s vinyl release of J. S. Bach’s Partita No. 2 in D Minor AKG C-24 Stereo Tube Microphone, No mixer, direct from the microphone amplifier to the Tape Deck using the shortest possible length of custom wire. Agfa Formula 468 Tape…. One has to understand that Yarlung Records is a non-profit organization and releases its amazing productions when financially feasible. This performance was included in a CD compilation of Petteri Iivonen’s work titled Art of the Violin, Yarlung Records 05787, in 2008, to rave reviews. Being a CD with its limitations, I did not realize the overall importance of this recording. The performance was both exciting and nuanced but not what you would expect from analog’s ability to make the violin come alive in the room. Now we have the BOMB! I talked with Bob Attiyeh the other day, and he mentioned that Elliot Midwood, Partita‘s executive Continue Reading →

The Absolute Sound Super LP List 2020

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Jonathan Valin’s famous resource for vinyl lovers, the Super LP List in The Absolute Sound, honored Yarlung’s Janaki String Trio release on 45RPM vinyl from executive producer Elliot Midwood in 2016.  Jonathan praises this Janaki disc for its particularly natural sound.  Since 2016, the Super LP list has added these additional Yarlung titles: Ciaramella Dances from executive producer Elliot Midwood Antonio Lysy at The Broad: Music from Argentina Smoke & Mirrors percussion ensemble from executive producers David & Margie Barry Sophisticated Lady Jazz Quartet from executive producers Ann & Bill Harmsen Sasha Cooke’s If You Love For Beauty from executive producer Jim Mulally Thank you to the superb musicians, lacquer engineers and pressing plants who have made this success possible.  We appreciate it! –Bob Attiyeh, producer

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

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

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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 →

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 →