Description
The Music:
John Adams
Am I in Your Light?
Mahler
“Rückert Lieder”
George Frideric Handel
Ombra mai fù
Executive producer: Jim Mulally
If You Love For Beauty showcases Metropolitan Opera and GRAMMY® Award-winning mezzo-soprano Sasha Cooke, and The Colburn Orchestra conducted by Yehuda Gilad.
Opera News heralded mezzo-soprano Sasha Cooke’s debut album If You Love For Beauty and described her onstage “attractive, erotic stage presence.” Writing in Opera News specifically about this recording Eric Myers continues “In Ich atmet’ einen linden Duft, [Sasha] floats a beautiful mezza voce as soft as the linden fragrance she is describing. Liebst du um Schönheit is sung with hushed intimacy, and Ich bin der Welt abhanden gekommen comes wrapped in a quiet, confessional tone of resignation and introspection. Blicke mir nicht in die Lieder captures the correct rapid-fire, gently comic air of frustration. In the stark Um Mitternacht, Cooke rises movingly from the depressive episode depicted in the opening to the great epiphany of the final lines.”
“combining as she did the outward purity of a Renaissance angel and a voice of powerful sensual warmth and excellent musicality” -Anne Midgette, The New York Times
“gifted young mezzo-soprano Sasha Cooke, as Kitty Oppenheimer, was able to create a fresh, vital portrayal, bringing a luminous tone, a generously supported musical line, a keen sense of verbal nuance, and a flair for seduction” -Alex Ross, The New York Times
“sung with aching, wistful intensity” -Anthony Tommasini, The New York Times
Yarlung Records exhibited at The Show in Newport with the analog tape of this album before its release on CD or vinyl. Numerous critics kept returning to the room to hear more of Sasha and this tape. Dr. David W. Robinson, Editor-in-Chief of PFO later gave Yarlung the prestigious Audio Oasis award in recognition of his return again and again over the course of the show to hear Sasha and Colburn Orchestra. Sasha and the outstanding Colburn Orchestra offer us a musical oasis indeed.
–Bob Attiyeh, producer
Michael Popolino –
Sasha Cooke’s “If You Love For Beauty” Volume I is superb in all ways, from her vocal gifts and renditions of the arias on one end, to Yarlung’s mastering of the tracks on the other. This recording has the effect of sending me to a higher plane. I have since listened to this album regularly, and look forward to a Volume II with great anticipation.
Incidentally, my hope is that you will continue to “cheat” with your recording techniques, as you describe them on the back of Sasha’s album cover. They never fail to result in Yarlung being among the best record labels I have the pleasure to hear. Your theory and practice of high quality recording has been “spot on.” It is no surprise that Michael Fremer of Analog Planet used your recording of “Smoke & Mirrors” to perform a comparison of turntable performance.
I wish you and all the artists continued success. (There is probably a degree of self-interest expressed in that!)
Best wishes to all of you at Yarlung,
Michael
Bob Attiyeh –
Mr. Popolino, thank you so much! I had to laugh when I saw your comment about “cheating” as you referenced my notes on the album jacket. I think you are referring to using three microphones and not just one. I suppose purists might be forgiven for rigorous attempts to keep the recording chain limited to the very fewest components. I am certainly happy that you are enjoying the results.
Recording Sasha and Colburn Orchestra under the baton of Yehuda Gilad was one of the highlights of my recording career. Their magnificent sound in Zipper Hall is clear in my memory even this many years later. What a treat they gave us!
Michael Popolino –
A follow up:
…. a new album by Sasha would be fabulous! The “Poeme de l’amour et de la mer” cycle is surely beautiful and haunting. I believe that Sasha’s gifted voice will bring new and engaging nuances to both of these qualities. I wish Sasha and Yarlung the greatest of success in making it happen (Volume II), and you can be assured that I will have it on my turntable within days of its release.