Description
Executive Producer: Elliot Midwood
It is a rare treat when a music writer and critic twists a producer’s arm to re-release an early album in a record label’s catalog. Music critic Rush Paul was the friendly arm-twister in our case, and encouraged us to release a fresh mastering of Ciaramella: Music from the Court of Burgundy in honor of Yarlung’s 20th Anniversary. It turned out to be a great aural treat to revisit the original takes and bring them to life in high res PCM and 256fs DSD with equipment Yarlung didn’t have at the time of the original recording. Not only did we not have the fabulous Merging Technologies Hapi to record the actual DSD files then, but we have since refined and developed new equipment such as Arian Jansen’s SHI18 (in the analog domain) to refine the soundstage and make a good recording better.
Elliot Midwood, frequent executive producer and one of the principal equipment designers at Yarlung, offered to underwrite some of these 20th Anniversary releases.
Johannes Ciconia, Guillaume Dufay, Johannes Pullois, and Alexander Agricola. Never heard of them? Don’t worry: after listening to this recording, you won’t forget them, and will find yourself awake at night, tapping your feet and dreaming about the dukes and ladies of Burgundy and their Renaissance court. Ciaramella recreates improvisations in historical style, bringing the practice of fifteenth-century jazz back to life. Ciaramella tuned to A=466 Hz for our recording. The pitch varies slightly with temperature and humidity changes in Newman Hall and according to varied temperaments. Ciaramella generally employs just intonation, a tuning system favoring pure thirds and pure fifths.
“The performances all have a life and energy that is so far removed from the turgid sounds of some other early music performances that one might think they inhabit different planets. This is the music of dance, of the love of life, of freedom and joy. Ciaramella makes this music come alive. And the recording quality just blows me away every time I listen.” –Rushton Paul, PFO
“The very thoughfully engineered recording captures the ensemble’s superb playing and singing. It is very gratifying to hear a recording quality that so well matches the performing ensemble.” –American Recorder Magazine
“…some of the best Renaissance wind playing in the world.… The music is sometimes raucous, sometimes sweet, but always compelling.” –Maria Coldwell, Early Music America
“From their smooth conjuring of the sound of solemn grandeur to their obvious ease with the most wildly virtuosic compositional and improvisational techniques of the day, the members of Ciaramella are masters of 15th-century Burgundian music, earthly, earthy, and divine.” –Marsha Genensky, Anonymous 4
As is often the case with Yarlung albums, we invited a small very quiet audience to join us for parts of these sessions, so Ciaramella was in fact performing for living enthusiastic people, not just me on stage with our recording equipment, smiling and encouraging him. Also, Adam’s and Rotem’s son Ilai Gilbert (now a serious musician in graduate school but then a little kid sick at “home” with a cold) joined us and contributed occasional and surprisingly welcome reactions when asked.
The ambiance in these Yarlung albums comes from the concert hall itself—from the air in the hall, the wood on the walls, and so forth. Alfred Newman Hall at Thornton School at the University of Southern California sounds wonderful and the people who work there always make Yarlung’s team feel very welcome.
We add no reverb in mastering. For this recording we used one AKG C24 stereo microphone, our customized vacuum tube microphone preamplifiers, short (five feet) stranded Yarlung Audio silver interconnects, no mixer, and recorded directly to two tracks.
Composers include:
Johannes Pullois d.1478
Guillaume Dufay 1397-1474
That most famous of all Renaissance composers “Anonymous”
Johannes Ciconia ca.1370-1412
Grimace, mid-to late 14th cent.
Pykini, fl. ca.1364-1389
Gilles Binchois ca. 1400-1460
Alexander Agricola ca.1446-1506
Adam Knight Gilbert (writing in the Renaissance style)
Josquin des Prez ca.1450-1521
Johannes Ghiselin, fl.1491-1507
Heinrich Isaac ca.1450-1517
Antoine Busnois 1430-1492
The music on this album was written for magnificent outdoor celebrations full of pomp, but also for intimate interior spaces in court, church, and banquet hall. One well might hear the same work played indoors on recorders, and outdoors on shawms. Our aesthetic differs from that of many early music recordings, which often favor very live spaces and more distant microphone placement.
Enjoy!
–Bob Attiyeh, producer
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