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. The ensemble 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
Soundcloud
Rushton Paul –
YARLUNG PURE DSD256 REISSUES CONTINUE WITH CIARAMELLA EARLY MUSIC ENSEMBLE WITH FREE DOWNLOAD
Yarlung Records continues to celebrate its Twentieth Anniversary with another superb release from its analog master tape archives. Now we have another release from Yarlung’s archives that has only seen light of day as a CD: Ciaramella: Music from the Court of Burgundy.
You should also be aware of another Yarlung album by this same ensemble, Ciaramella Dances, which I’ll discuss further below. Both albums are released in Pure DSD256. Both are pure delight.
Ciaramella, the Los Angeles area based early music ensemble, is a world class ensemble. Directed by Adam Knight Gilbert & Rotem Gilbert, they play music from over 500 years ago. For them, none of this 200-300 year old modern stuff. No, they play the real thing that graced the Medieval and Renaissance courts and countryside of the 14th and 15th centuries. This is the world of shawms, recorders, sackbuts, slide trumpets, and bagpipes. It is a world of music I have loved since I first encountered it on recordings some 50 years ago. To find it so well presented by Ciaramella is a treasure—they are a treasure.
In this album, Ciaramella have chosen music with the rich diversity of the court of the Duke of Burgundy circa 1500. As prevalent in that society, the music here is both transcendent and bawdy, refined elegance and rowdy dissonance. From it’s core in the French wine country of Burgundy, the fifteenth-century Valois Dukes of Burgundy forged a kingdom that expanded to dominate much of the Low Countries, including modern Belgium, Holland, and parts of Northern France. One of the major powers of 15th century Europe, theirs was an international court, a court of great wealth, sophistication and art. And the music of this period is as complex, as layered in meaning and double-entendre, as any We have known. Ciaramella director Adam Knight Gilbert writes in the liner notes, “From the late fourteenth century, the Burgundian regions fostered generations of makers and players of music who traveled and worked across Europe, profoundly transforming musical culture. Their surviving repertory reveals traditions of borrowing, allusion, and emulation that transcended national borders and influenced European music for centuries.”
All the instruments used in this recording are copied from original instruments still extant, or recreated from historical paintings or treatises. This allows for the texture, tonal complexity, and harmonic overtones that are distinctly different from the modern instruments descended from those in use here.
With instruments tuned at A=466 Hz, and with sonorities so different from those to which most listeners are attuned, the music can sound coarse, raspy, grating. But for ears attuned to the sounds of shawm versus oboe, medieval recorder versus Baroque recorder, slide trumpet versus trombone, bagpipe versus organ, this music is an entry into another world filled with texture, grace, and innovation. And when played by musicians of this high caliber, there is much sly innuendo to be found in the multiple layers of sound and counterpoint.
The entire album is delightfully arranged and performed over a diverse set of music. From the graceful, classic dance La Spagna by Josquin des Prez to the sophistication of Gilles Binchois’ Comme Femme Desconfortee (performed without words), to the rambunctious Rostiboli gioioso filled with trumpet and drums, this album brings me joy. And the occasional improvisations (as in Gilbert’s La Spagna with improvisation) are the cherry on top that make the recital fresh and alive.
The superb sonics of the recording add immeasurably to my enjoyment of this album. Using a single AKG stereo microphone with, as Bob Attiyeh describes it, “a signal path as short as we could make it, with as few electronics between performer and final product as we could manage,” the captured sound is transparent, open, and richly detailed. And the lovely acoustics of Alfred Newman Hall at the University of Southern California make this possible. Bob says, “Newman Hall exemplifies the warm and yet transparent and lively sound of the concerts halls that I favor for recordings…”
It is this attention to detail (and fine sensibilities) that make the recordings from Yarlung Records so very special in my experience. I consistently place their releases at the top of my list of outstanding recordings, and this Ciaramella recording belongs among the best of their catalog.
Back in my days with vinyl, I never had Ciaramella: Music from the Court of Burgundy in my music collection because it was only issued on CD. And CD was not in my lexicon when I was focused on vinyl. I did, however, have the wonderful earlier release of Ciaramella Dances (see below) on 45rpm vinyl, and that album completely me sold on Ciaramella. Now that Bob Attiyeh is releasing on DSD256 some of the recordings never released on vinyl nor in high resolution digital, I could not be happier. This is a wonderful day for both music lovers and audiophiles.
And I definitely know this album is a good’un when I walk into my wife Ann’s office and she has her
headphones on, eyes closed, head bobbing to the music she’s playing on her office system — I can see the cover for Music from the Court of Burgundy displayed on her computer screen. She
is definitely not to be disturbed!
Most enthusiastically recommended.
Free Sample Download — Compare the same track in Pure DSD256 from the master tapeversus the originally released CD version
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.
The recording quality on this album blows me away every time I listen, whether from years ago with the 45rpm vinyl release or today with this superb Pure DSD256 recording.
–Rushton Paul, writing for Positive Feedback (here reproduced in part with thanks to Rush and to magazine publisher Dr. David W. Robinson, with our sincere thanks)
Pierre Baillot –
Thank you for sharing this newly remastered album. The sound is amazing, just like the other Yarlung Records albums I’ve listened to. It feels very natural, with a great level of detail and minimal compression—exactly what I appreciate 😊
The musicians are outstanding. They play these traditional ancient instruments, and I know how sensitive they can be to temperature and humidity—truly impressive work.
I really love Rush Paul’s quote: ‘This is the music of dance, of the love of life, of freedom and joy.’ It resonates deeply with me.
It would be very interesting to meet the Ciaramella Ensemble. Unfortunately, we don’t have any plans to travel to the US at the moment.
Thank you for giving this beautiful music renewed exposure with the highest audio quality.
All the best from Paris,
Denise & Pierre