Tag: Elliot Midwood

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 →

“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 →

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 →

Ciaramella Dances

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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 →

Executive Producers – Yarlung Records

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Sponsorship, philanthropy and guidance from underwriters have always been critical to the success of music and the performing arts.  The choragoi, wealthy citizens of Athens, helped produce and pay for classical performances in the 5th and 4th centuries BC.   Before them, the pharaohs sponsored the arts in ancient Egypt.  Lorenzo de Medici and his Renaissance family were not the first patrons of the arts in western culture, and as long as the arts flourish, it will be visionary people who finance them and make them possible. Countess Yoko Nagae Ceschina, “Fairy Godmother to the New York Philharmonic,” died last month.  I appreciated this loving tribute in the New York Times. It is our executive producers who sponsor and make music possible at Yarlung Records.  They are our fairy godmothers and fairy godfathers, our modern Medicis, who work with us and support our musicians every year. Please join our executive producers Continue Reading →

The Yarlung Sound

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Yarlung Records celebrated its first seven years with a special CD including repertoire stretching across five hundred years of musical history.  Joshua Cheek wrote this article in appreciation: Small is Beautiful: Yarlung Records and a Pilgrimage to a Perfect Sound Had Bob Attiyeh told me he was founding a record label seven years ago, I would have done everything in my power to discourage him. Launching an audiophile label with a piano recital that ranged from Baroque music through the High Romantic seemed an impossibly risky first step. And yet, seven years later, Yarlung Records has cultivated a distinctive catalogue of hand-crafted releases that consistently win the acclaim of the industry’s most discerning ears while showcasing extraordinary young artists performing an exciting and eclectic mix of repertoire. From that first recording with rising star Australian pianist David Fung, Yarlung Records has continued to deliver fresh and surprising ways of hearing Continue Reading →