One Microphone Recording Transferred from Analog to Pure DSD 256
Yarlung Records continues to celebrate the label’s 20th Anniversary with another superb release from its archives. Ciaramella, the Los Angeles based early music band, is a world class ensemble. Directed by Adam Knight Gilbert & Rotem Gilbert, they play music from 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 country sides of the 14th and 15th centuries. This is the world of shawms, recorders, sackbuts, slide trumpets, and bagpipes. To find it so well presented by Ciaramella is a treasure.
In this first of their Yarlung albums, Ciaramella presents music with the diversity of the court of the Duke of Burgundy circa 1500. As prevalent in that society, the music here is both transcendent and bawdy, rich with refined elegance and rowdy dissonance.
“Audiophile music critic and writer Rush Paul called me and told me what a great idea it would be to re-release some of Yarlung’s earlier albums in high resolution DSD 256. Yarlung’s 20th Anniversary gives us the perfect excuse to look back a bit and celebrate some of our earlier successes with outstanding musicians.
Elliot Midwood, frequent executive producer and one of the principal equipment designers at Yarlung, offered to underwrite some of these releases. We began with David Fung’s now iconic Evening Conversations, an album for solo piano recorded in Zipper Hall at Colburn School, which helped put Yarlung on the international audiophile map.
Here we celebrate Ciaramella: Music from the Court of Burgundy, an early project with Rotem and Adam Gilbert and their musical family of “Renaissance Minstrels.” Little did I know at the time what fast friends we would become. Adam serves as Special Advisor to Yarlung and has subsequently introduced us to some of our most outstanding musicians.”
– Bob Attiyeh, producer
Ciaramella
Adam Knight Gilbert & Rotem Gilbert, directors
Susan Judy (SJ) & Debra Nagy (DN), sopranos
N. Lincoln Hanks (NLH) & Temmo Korisheli (TK), tenors
Adam Knight Gilbert (AG), recorders, shawms, bagpipes
Rotem Gilbert (RG), recorders, shawms, bagpipes
Doug Milliken (DM), recorders, shawms, bagpipes
Debra Nagy (DN), recorders, shawms
Greg Ingles (GI), slide trumpet, sackbut
Erik Schmalz (ES), sackbut
Sidney Hopson (SH), percussion
Tracklist
Please note that the below previews are loaded as 44.1 kHz / 16 bit.Total time: 01:01:21
Additional information
| Label | |
|---|---|
| SKU | YAR8919920DSD |
| Qualities | DSD 512 fs, DSD 256 fs, DSD 128 fs, DSD 64 fs, DXD 32 Bit, DXD 24 Bit |
| Channels | |
| Artists | |
| Composers | Agricola, Anonymous, Binchois, Busnois, Ciconia, Des Prez, Dufay, Ghiselin, Gilbert, Grimace, Isaac, Pullios, Pykini |
| Genres | |
| Original Recording Format | |
| Analog to Digital Converter | Merging Technologies Hapi MKII |
| Producer | Bob Attiyeh |
| Recording Engineer | Bob Attiyeh |
| Executive Producer | Elliot Midwood |
| Mastering | Tom Caulfield (DSD Mastering) |
| Equipment | Digital converters: Merging Technologies Hapi Recording software: Merging Technologies Pyramix Microphone: AKG C-24 from Gearworks Pro Audio Yarlung Audio Microphone preamplification by Elliot Midwood Analog tape recorder: Ampex 440B with Yarlung Audio vacuum tube electronics |
| Recording Location | Alfred Newman Hall, Los Angeles, California |
| Instruments | Recorder, Vocal Tenor, Bagpipe, Sackbut, Shawm, Vocal Soprano |
| Release Date | April 10, 2026 |
Press reviews
Positive Feedback
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 Stereo CD – Ciaramella’s Music from the Court of Burgundy.
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.
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.
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.
All captured directly to 2-track 15 ips analog tape and now transferred directly to DSD 256 without any PCM in the mix. 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.
Superlative work and kudos to Ciaramella and Bob Attiyeh for bringing this to us.
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