David Howard
clarinet

Orion Weiss
solo piano

Elinor Frey & David Fung
Dialogues for 'cello and piano

Ryan McCullough
in Concert

David Fung
Evening Conversations

Janaki String Trio
debut

We believe that select late twentieth and early twenty-first century composers can write music as rich and beautiful as the masters of the classical and romantic eras. Note Jason Barabba’s String Trio, and works by David Lefkowitz and Krzysztof Penderecki happily along side Beethoven on the Janaki debut release. Enjoy music by Tan Dun comfortably at home with Mozart, Scarlatti, Rachmaninov and Schumann on David Fung’s Evening Conversations.

Dialoghi offers masterpieces by Lutoslawski, Saariaho, Stucky, Rouse and Lefkowitz alongside J. S. Bach, Machaut, and Leonin. Orion includes the magnificent Elliott Carter sonata. David Howard includes works by Steve Stucky, Esa-Pekka Salonen and Galina Ustvolskaya along with the monumental Brahms Clarinet Quintet. Ryan MacEvoy McCullough introduces us to Milosz Magin on his debut recital which also includes Bach, Beethoven, Schubert and Debussy.

One of our missions at Yarlung Records is to record young artists at an early stage in their international concert careers.

• We believe these early recordings are often the most technically proficient and emotionally sincere recordings an artist makes during the span of a long and successful career.

• We also know how important it is for young concert musicians to have high quality recordings available for their concert audiences. In previous eras, major labels fought to record the best young musicians. This kind of interest from a major label is rare in today’s market, and Yarlung Records is taking steps to provide this critical service.

There is a distinct breed of recording connoisseur that feels the best-recorded sound comes from the least amount of equipment.  One must use the fewest microphones required to capture the sound, and they must be placed in perfect locations. This is the “less is more,” “minimalist,” or “purist” school. Many microphones, multiple-track mixers, miles of microphone cable can add noise and what audiophiles call a blanket over the sound and over the music. This makes the music seem distant and un-engaging. There are extraordinary recordings made this way. But they are rare, and their engineers walk on water.

In these most recent Yarlung Records releases, I use either one stereo or two mono vacuum tube microphones, which record directly to two tracks (left and right, for stereo playback). We use microphones like the legendary AKG C-24, and matched Neumann U-47s. I believe that these minimalist recording techniques will give you, the listener, the most transparent sound, the most accurate soundstage and the most life-like ambiance of these great artists in a concert hall.

We use customized vacuum tube microphone preamplifiers instead of a mixer, and our custom interconnect cables. I record analog tape and high definition digital audio (in this case 176,400 samples per second and 24 bit depth). Steve Hoffman and Kevin Gray mastered these CDs directly from the digital media, re-sampled to 44.1 kilohertz and dithered to 16 bits so that you can play them on a modern CD player. We hope you enjoy them!

Janaki String Trio commissioned a new work from Pierre Jalbert scheduled for premiere in 2009. This follows Alabaster Rounds, commissioned from Andrew Norman, which premiered triumphantly in New York in Carnegie’s Weill Hall in January 2007. You can also hear Jason Barabba’s String Trio, commissioned by Janaki for their Yarlung Records debut album, in live Janaki Trio performances. Look also for Janaki’s Taneyev and Vanhal releases on Naxos Records.

Robert Levi of Positive Feedback Online calls Janaki’s debut recording with Yarlung Records "intensely musical and analog-like." John Casler writes "Janaki String Trio is also 'beyond' audiophile quality and standards, in every area."

Referring to David Fung's Evening Conversations under the heading "Best PIANO Recording I have ever heard," AudioCircle writes: "The Piano just sounds like it is as big as the whole room.... And what a performance it is!"

Dialoghi includes the world premiere recordings of Steve Stucky’s Dialoghi, studi su un nome, Christopher Rouse’s Ricordanza, and David Lefkowitz’s Amour et biauté parfaite, commissioned by Yarlung Artists. Ryan MacEvoy McCullough in Concert includes Milosz Magin’s Five Preludes for piano. David Howard includes the world premiere recording of Steve Stucky’s Meditation and Dance.

Yarlung Records purchases green energy offsets through Native Energy in our attempt to compensate for the electrical power consumed in our recording and manufacturing operations and for our administration.  

We hope your albums last forever.  Should you eventually wish to recycle them, GreenDisk can help by recycling your jewel cases and the polycarbonate used in the manufacture of items like CDs and DVDs. 

Yarlung Records will soon release John Walz: A Tribute to Pierre Fournier including Martinu, Vivaldi and Couperin, and Martin Chalifour, violin, recorded June 2-3, 2008 in Walt Disney Concert Hall.  This recording includes works by Bach, Schumann, Stravinsky, Schoenberg, Debussy, Ravel and Salonen.

Yarlung Artists is a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt nonprofit organization dedicated to the support of young classical musicians as they begin their international concert careers. With the help of Special Advisors Margaret Batjer, Harry Bicket, Martin Chalifour, Roberto Diaz and Michala Petri, Yarlung Artists records, markets and distributes debut albums for select young concert artists to help them gain stature and visibility with their audiences, critics and peers.

In Princeton Alumni Weekly (April 2007) Kathy Greenwood writes “Concert artists… need quality CDs to sign for audience members after their performances. ‘Without such albums, audiences and critics seem not to take… musicians as seriously,’ says Attiyeh. ‘And it helps the musicians [know they are] legitimate and that they have made it onto the international stage.’”

For more information, please telephone (310) 276-0175 or send an email message to support@yarlungartists.org. Yarlung Artists is a separate organization from Yarlung Records.

Yarlung Records
10920 Wilshire Boulevard
#150-9162
Los Angeles, California 90024
(310) 276-0175
info@yarlungrecords.com

Yarlung Records takes its name from the Yarlung Valley in Central Tibet, where the royal houses buried Songtsen Gampo and Trisong Detsen (two of the great early Kings in the historical record) in the Tibetan "Valley of the Kings." Legends claim the Yarlung Valley as the magical birthplace of the Tibetan people and as a meeting place between heaven and earth. It is in this valley, at the site of  Yambulakhang Castle in our Yarlung Records logo, where Heaven and Earth touched in order to transform humanity.  What could be a better metaphor for the transformative power of great music?

Photo: Yarlung Records © 2004
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David Howard
clarinet
$16.99 + S/H

Midway in an all-Brahms chamber concert by Philharmonic members came the Clarinet Quintet, a late work not often heard, music of lavender and deep purple, shot through with burnished-bronze outcries from the solo wind player….  …waves of deep, penetrating beauty.  Midway in the slow movement David Howard's solo clarinet unwound its slithering melodic line across the musical spectrum; the strings answered with passionate shivers, and their moonstruck conversation continues to echo in my skull days later.  That's Brahms.
Alan Rich

David plays nickel-plated Buffet R13 clarinets. For our recording he used a Vandoren B40 mouthpiece, Vandoren traditional number 3 reeds, and a Rovner dark ligature. For the works by Steve Stucky and Esa-Pekka Salonen which we recorded in Zipper Hall at Colburn School, Vicki Ray plays Steinway Concer & Artists piano number 599 made in New York. For the trio by Galina Ustvolskaya, Vicki plays New York Steinway 562930, chosen for the opening of Walt Disney Concert Hall with the help of Hélène Grimaud. Violinist Johnny Lee plays an instrument made in 1807 by Pirot. In the Brahms quintet, first violinist Lyndon Taylor plays the Perkins Stradivarius from 1708, Kristine Hedwall plays a Carletti violin made in 1941, John Hayhurst plays a Sgarabotto viola from 1908, and ‘cellist Gloria Lum plays a Vincenzo Postiglione, built in 1877.

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David Fung
Evening Conversations
$16.99 + S/H

"...The surprise for the evening was David Fung. From the very first moment, he demonstrated a marvelous temperament. Fung told an interesting and fascinating story throughout all three movements, which was full of colors and nuances...He was a hit!"
Ora Binur, MAARIV Israel Philharmonic, Mozart Concerto No. 25 in C Major

"He did not only dazzle the crowd with his virtuosity … but did not fail to move the audience with his excitement, and lyrical warmth."
Ursula Augustin, Kreis Cochem-Zell, Koblenz, Germany

The eighteenth-century…was an age of conversation. And music, modeled on this principal pastime, was a medium for wit, sentiment, and rhetorical flourish. Mozart's Fantasy and Scarlatti's sonatas, which bracket this recital by David Fung, remind us why the keyboard was considered such an ideal vehicle for a composer's flights of fancy.
…Like Schumann and Scarlatti, Chopin, Mozart, and Rachmaninov before him, Tan Dun was learning to master the secret of the miniature - a compositional form he has likened both to zen calligraphy and to the watercolor: "capturing essences with the minimum of gesture." This is a fitting epigraph for this collection of short pieces, jewels of the composer's craft and worthy tests of a performer's taste and skill.
Christopher Hailey, Institute of Advanced Study, Princeton, New Jersey

It is always rewarding to work with an artist like David, whose musical interpretations are rich and fresh without being eccentric, and always completely sincere.
Bob Attiyeh, producer

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Janaki String Trio
debut
$16.99 + S/H

Janaki String Trio brings together three friends and virtuoso musicians whose passion and commitment captivate their audiences as they tackle their music with freshness, energy and maturity. Founded at The Colburn School of Music in Los Angeles in early 2005, the group soon won the 59th Annual Coleman Chamber Music Competition, and in March 2006, the threesome came to national attention as the first string trio ever to win the Concert Artists Guild International Competition. The Trio also garnered the inaugural BMI Foundation Commission Prize.

The Janaki Trio was selected to participate in Canada's Banff Music Festival in June 2006. This honor follows an exciting 2005-06 season, highlighted by performances on such series as Sundays Live at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Lagerstrom Chamber Music at Caltech, South Bay Chamber Music Society and the Music Guild Chamber Music Series. Janaki Trio made its New York recital debut in Carnegie Hall's Weill Recital Hall in January 2007.

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David Fung
The Piano: A Journey
$16.99 + S/H

Yarlung Records recorded this American Debut Album for pianist David Fung in advance of his 2005 world concert tour. Following his celebrated concerts with the Sydney and Melbourne Symphony Orchestras, David won the International Klaviersommer Festival Competition in Germany in 2004. And after also capturing the festival's People's Choice Award, David quickly became a young artist in demand around the world.

We recorded this album on June 27th and 28th, 2005 in Herbert Zipper Hall in the Colburn School of Performing Arts in Los Angeles. David started with the Liszt B-Minor Sonata, and played it straight through in one take.

In his own words, David Fung describes his intention with A Journey from Hubris to Humility: "When making this recording, we wanted to give the listener the experience of a concert performance in a great concert hall, not the surgical "in-your-face" sound one hears so often in new recordings. I hope you feel like you are sitting in the tenth row of magnificent Zipper Hall."

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Orion Weiss, piano
24 Karat Gold Audiophile CD

$24.00 + S/H

Scriabin's fiery fifth sonata showcases Orion's dynamism and delicacy as well as his ability to produce a breathtakingly broad range of warm, mid-keyboard colors contained within this impressionistic piece that ends as furiously (and explosively) as it begins.

…the recording compellingly communicates every deft keyboard stroke of a young virtuoso…

...if your system can handle the piano's prodigious low frequency energy and intense dynamics, you will be presented with a realistic rendering of a piano in all of its sonic and physical glory....
Michael Fremer, Stereophile

“Weiss’ phrases had more happening in them than other pianists do in an entire piece.  He showed color and sensitivity, clarity and evenness of technique, and a dynamic level that was more the range found on a fortepiano.”
Geraldine Freedman, The Daily Gazette

Orion Weiss combines exacting perfectionism with genuine affability and Midwestern charm. Orion offers high voltage electricity as a performer, linked with intellectual and musical maturity as a poet at the keyboard. In his writing Michael Fremer compares Orion Weiss to Gustavo Dudamel. Indeed we are fortunate; this appears to be the beginning of another musical golden era, in which young and extremely talented musicians enrich our enjoyment of the nuances in concert music by bringing fresh vitality to seasoned masterpieces and new compositions alike.
Bob Attiyeh, producer

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24 Karat Gold
Audiophile Pressing
thanks to
Elliot Midwood,
Acoustic Image

Dialoghi
Elinor Frey & David Fung
Dialogues for 'cello and piano
$16.99 + S/H

“a superb cellist”
Syracuse Post Standard

"Impeccable American cellist"
La Presse

"…David Fung performed strongly, showing off velocity, volume, stamina and a wide range of color and mood."
Wayne Lee Gay, The Star Telegram, Fort Worth, Texas

Elinor Frey plays a 1962 Mario Gadda Italian ‘cello from Mantua. She uses a baroque bow (made by Louis Bégin in Montreal) for Bach’s ‘cello suite and for Amour et Biauté Parfaite.

There are no equalization adjustments on this album. We made all “EQ adjustments” with microphone placement at the start. It is always our goal to record this way: we succeeded similarly with David Fung’s Evening Conversations, and also with Orion, Joanne Pearce Martin: Barefoot, and Ryan MacEvoy McCullough in Concert.

Thanks to our friend and supporter Jon Fisher, Gearworks Pro Audio gave us the use of an Austrian AKG C-24 stereo microphone, one of the few still using the original brass surround CK12 tube in excellent condition. For this recording we used Yarlung-Records-designed interconnects with a flat silver ribbon suspended in air for the dialectric, customized vacuum tube preamplifiers, and recorded directly to two tracks without a mixer.
Bob Attiyeh, producer

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Ryan McCullough
in Concert
$16.99 + S/H

2008 has been busy for Ryan. In the aftermath of Ryan’s successful Beethoven Piano Concerto No. 4 in Ambassador Hall, and right before beginning orchestra rehearsals for the Rachmaninov Piano Concerto No. 2, he gave an intimate recital for a few friends at Colburn School in Los Angeles. Yarlung Records was privileged to record this repertoire. Ryan’s opening track, Debussy’s rain-scented Jardins sous la Pluie, set the tone for the concert. This was a recital conceived by a conductor, not just a pianist. Yes, one can feel the refreshing as well as violent aspects of nature in this piece, but one can also hear the forces of an orchestra coming through Ryan’s approach to his instrument. Ryan focuses on the over-arching musical architecture of the works on this program and deemphasizes ornaments that show off virtuosity.

I spoke with Jeffrey Kahane shortly before Ryan’s performance of the Beethoven Fourth. Ryan had asked Jeff to listen to his approach before the concert. Jeff told me he was deeply moved, and wrote later “I was enormously impressed and genuinely touched by the depth of Ryan McCullough’s musicianship, the authenticity and sincerity of his musical voice and his burgeoning mastery of his chosen instrument.”

Whether Ryan remains a concert pianist or also becomes a conductor, I suspect this approach to his music will remain with him always. Ryan’s concert takes us on a journey from outer landscapes (literally with the Debussy) to inner landscapes and the most private parts of the soul, in Beethoven sonata opus 101 and Schubert’s F Minor impromptu.
Bob Attiyeh, producer

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Joanne Pearce Martin
Barefoot
$16.99 + S/H

Joanne’s album takes us from the fiery brilliance of the coda of the G Minor Ballade to the pristine airiness of the opening of Mozart’s Sonata, K 332. This magical transition feels like the pianist invites us into a warm haven after rescuing us from the thunder and lightning of a raging storm…. Meyer Kupferman’s …Distances, full of deliciously altered chords, alternates between moody and placid with but one tiny outburst. The two Nocturnes on Joanne’s program occupy a special place in pianists’ hearts. The E-Flat, Op. 9, No.2 may be the most familiar to us, but that doesn’t detract from its simple attractiveness. The less familiar D-Flat Nocturne, Op. 27, No. 2 captures titular moonlight, and gripping tension which Chopin creates through harmonic means and the beauty of his gorgeous ornamentation. This one is a true gem.
Orrin Howard

Joanne Pearce Martin serves as principal keyboardist for the Los Angeles Philharmonic and plays regularly as guest soloist with many orchestras in the United States and Europe. Joanne performed John Adams’ China Gates in a Los Angeles Philharmonic Green Umbrella concert celebrating the composer’s 60th birthday. It was this performance, and her collaboration with Jeffrey Kahane and the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra in Mozart’s Concerto for 2 Pianos in E-Flat Major that gave me the idea for this album. We recorded Orion and Joanne Pearce Martin: Barefoot with the same piano, same hall, and same equipment setup. Orion and Joanne, both virtuosic titans of the keyboard, sound very different in these recordings. Recording them as we did should enable you to enjoy them as distinct individuals with unique messages, colors and musical voices.
Bob Attiyeh, producer

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