Description

Executive Producers: Diane and Craig Martin

Earth & Wood

Stereophile’s Michael Fremer rarely rates a vinyl album with an “11 out of 10,” but he generously did so for Yarlung’s earlier Smoke & Mirrors Percussion Ensemble release.  We hope to make you (and Mr. Fremer) just as happy with Earth & Wood, offering more tracks from these now legendary recording sessions in Zipper Hall at The Colburn School.  Michael Fremer wrote “The sonics here are spectacular. These performances were recorded live to tape with no editing by the seven members of Smoke & Mirrors. The recording is superbly transparent and well-captures the hall’s natural reverb. I can’t imagine you won’t thoroughly enjoy listening repeatedly to this record.” 

The Absolute Sound’s Jim Hannon reflects that this ensemble created “a wide tapestry of rhythms and harmonics skillfully arrayed across a broad and deep soundstage. There’s an immediacy, clarity, and transparency to this modern classical percussion recording that seemingly brings the performers to your living room.” The enemble’s first percussion LP earned a coveted spot on the TAS Super LP List.  

Writing for Mono & Stereo, Carlos Guzman writes “the sound of this production is exquisite. A great ambiance is captured in this tape and the effortless flow of music is graciously submitted with precision and focus. The instrument timbres are accurate and the performance is second to none. The quality achieved by Yarlung’s team is excellent, clearly expressed in their recordings. The use and combination of new and classic technology is a delicious proposal for those who demand only the best. Bob is not playing games, folks, he’s very serious about his musicians, performance and sonic quality. Who can ask for more?”

One side includes Lou Harrison’s magical Canticle No. 3, a concerto for ocarina and percussion, written in 1940 and 1941. Canticle No. 3 uses the haunting primitive sound of the ocarina (a Mexican terra-cotta flute which looks a little like a knobby sweet potato or cuddly sea creature) and a steel string guitar, both a strong contrast with Harrison’s creative assortment of percussion instruments.  Joe Beribak plays ocarina and Derek Tywoniuk plays guitar. The ocarina comes from many musical cultures, some ancient, but in our recording the Joe’s ocarina is a version of the earthen Maya and Aztec flute that Cortés encountered in the New World.  

We experimented with our musicians in many different locations for this recording, since we used one stereo AKG C-24 microphone and no mixer for all of our takes on this album. As Joe reminisced, “some instruments (like tom toms and snare drums) were designed for use with a modern orchestra, while other instruments (like the ocarina and teponaztli [a slit drum made from a hollow log]) are ethnic instruments designed to be played in intimate settings. So we adjusted our setup to create the balance and tone quality we wanted. We brought the ocarina closer to center, and we actually rotated the toms 90 degrees counter-clockwise in order to balance these two voices properly on the recording. As a result we needed to modify the way we cued each other, since our relative positions were radically different from the way we stand when we perform this piece live. As with everything we did in this Yarlung recording, each challenge gave us a new perspective that enriched the musical experience and made it even more fun.”

The other side of our album contains three pieces for marimba, two tracks from Argentine composer Alejandro Viñao’s Book of Grooves, which Smoke & Mirrors Ensemble co-commissioned, and presents here in their world premiere recording.    

Eddie Hong writes “When given the opportunity to be part of a consortium for a new marimba duet by Alejandro Viñao, Derek and I were ecstatic.  Arguably one of the most important composers contributing to the percussion literature today, Viñao already had a rich history with Smoke & Mirrors Ensemble. Our teacher, Jack Van Geem, gave the premiere performance of Viñao’s Khan Variations, as well as performing his Arabesco Infinito and Tumblers. Our own first experience performing Viñao’s music was with his Arabesco Infinito for vibraphone and marimba in 2010. Book of Grooves challenged us in a similar way as Arabesco Infinito did. In this piece, Viñao writes, ‘The “groove” or “feel” of a piece is a pattern or sequence that repeats periodically in such a way as to create the desire to move, or dance, or to foot-tap in time with the rhythm.’ “A groove always attracts percussionists since it can be such an infectious culprit of rhythmic propulsion. Viñao establishes his groove at the outset of each movement, but then deviates from it by writing odd meters (adding or subtracting parts of beats) and including surprising interplay between the two parts.” Our two performers are Eddie Hong and Derek Tywoniuk.

We open this side of the LP with Steve Reich’s classic Nagoya Marimbas, written in 1994 and premiered in December of that year in Shirakawa Hall in Nagoya, Japan.  Steve writes that the work is “similar to my pieces from the 1960s and ‘70s in that there are repeating patterns played on both marimbas, one or more beats out of phase, creating a series of two part unison canons. However, these patterns are more melodically developed, change frequently and each is usually repeated no more than three times, similar to my more recent work. The piece is also considerably more difficult to play than my earlier ones and requires two virtuosic performers.” Our two Smoke & Mirrors virtuosi are Joe Beribak and Katy La Favre. 

Yarlung captured these performances with a single AKG C-24 stereo microphone in the glorious acoustics of Zipper Hall at The Colburn School. We recorded each piece in its entirety, live to tape with no editing, to create the most lifelike performance possible. Rather than worry about how the ensemble would perform without the benefit of edits to camouflage mistakes, the members of Smoke & Mirrors loved the idea, embracing our concept that this recording represent a live concert experience. To amplify the signal from the C-24, we used microphone amplification by Elliot Midwood.  Music aficionados today sometimes lament the current trend in digital recording that allows or even encourages tens or hundreds of edits per movement, such that the resulting albums sound “perfect” but a little sterile. You can take heart in Smoke & Mirrors, who actually play this way (and this well) in real life. 

This album proudly bears the seal and endorsement of the Los Angeles and Orange County Audio Society.  President Mike Wechsberg, Chairman Robert Levi and the society’s multi-year collaboration with Yarlung have enabled joint concerts and recordings to reach larger audiences; indeed many on Yarlung’s technical team and board of directors are members of the Audio Society.  Yarlung musicians join us in expressing our appreciation.  

We owe hearty thanks to our magnificent executive producers Diane & Craig Martin, who not only support many of Yarlung’s vinyl and digital releases but have also hosted concerts and patron dinners with our musicians.  Craig also serves as chairman of Yarlung’s board of directors.   Recent releases honored with Craig’s and Diane’s generous support include Left Coastin’ from Sophisticated Lady Jazz Quartet, Lifeline: Music of the Underground Railroad and four volumes of the Yuko Mabuchi jazz LPs that continue to sell out all over the world.  Thank you! Your zest for life and music inspire me and our fortunate musicians every day.   

–Bob Attiyeh, producer