Petteri Iivonen Art Of The Violin 180g LP (Vinyl)

Featured in Michael Fremer's Heavy Rotation in the December 2011 Issue of Stereophile!

Mastered by Steve Hoffman & Doug Sax from Analog Tape! Pressed on High Resolution 180 Gram Virgin Vinyl!

Grammy Award winning Yarlung Records brings fresh musicians to the classical music world using minimalist audiophile recording techniques to deliver sound as close to a live performance as possible. Rather than using recording studios, engineer Bob Attiyeh produces these albums in concert halls famous for their acoustics, including Walt Disney Concert Hall and Ambassador Hall in Los Angeles. Yarlung uses analog tape for 180g vinyl LPs mastered by Steve Hoffman.

Yarlung repertoire ranges from the 11th century through the Baroque, Classical and Romantic eras, with a special focus on new music from the 20th and 21st centuries. Artists include top soloists as well as superstar young musicians at the beginnings of their international concert careers. Yarlung brings artists into your living room; you can hear their music, their breathing, and almost their heartbeats.

"...extremely gifted and polished.... Petteri plays with natural raw talent and extraordinary technical and musical finesse... his personality infuses his music with a charm and depth especially welcome today. A young master." - Hagai Shaham

Petteri’s affable personality galvanized as much support for this debut recording as did his exceptional talent with the violin. Listen to the colors Petteri employs in the first movement of the Debussy sonata, especially in the flautando sections. Or the extreme tenderness of the second movement of Ysaÿe’s Sonata No. 2. And then compare that with the icy brilliance of the same sonata’s fourth movement after the one-minute mark. Note too the yearning of an entire nation, perhaps the entire Twentieth Century, in the arrival of the Eli Eli theme in tracks twelve and thirteen. (Yarlung Artists commissioned David Lefkowitz to write Eli Eli for Petteri, in honor of Hagai Shaham.) And then evaluate this music in comparison with the titanic Bach Partita, and enjoy the world of color and emotion that Petteri delivers in this final work on his recording. - Bob Attiyeh, producer

This album was recorded in Alfred Newman Hall at the University of California. Newman Hall exemplifies the warm yet transparent and lively sound of the concerts halls favored for audiophile recordings, and its acoustics adjust easily to provide different lengths of decay. The legendary Austrian AKG C-24 stereo microphones were chosen with the original brass surround CK12 tube as well as a five-foot long Yarlung-Records-designed interconnects with a flat silver ribbon suspended in air for the dielectric, customized vacuum tube preamplifiers and no mixer. The signal path was a short as was possible, with as few electronics between performer and final product. You will enjoy the results!!!

Also available on 180g vinyl from Yarlung Records is the Fremer Rated album Antonio Lysy / At the Broad: Music From Argentina (YARLP95968)!

Features:
• 180g High Resolution Virgin Vinyl
• German Audiophile Pressing
• Mastered by Steve Hoffman & Bob Attiyeh
• Cut by Doug Sax and Sangwook Nam!
• Mastered from Analog Tape!

Musicians:
Peteri Iivonen, violin
Kevin Fitz-Gerald, piano (Debussy)

Selections:
Side A:
Eugene Ysaye (1858-1931)
Sonata No. 2 in A Minor
1. Obsession
2. Malinconia
3. Danse Des Ombres
4. Les Furies
Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750)
5. Ciaccona* (from Partita No. 2 in D Minor, BWV 1004)
Side B:
Claude Debussy (1862-1918)
Sonata for Violin and Piano in G Minor
1. Allegro Vivo
2. Intermede: Fantasque et Leger
3. Finale: Tres Anime
David S. Lefkowitz
Eli Eli*
(Original Eli Eli folk tune by David Zehavi)

*Live Concert Performance

Recorded in Alfred Newman Hall, Los Angeles, June 9-16, 2008