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. Antonio Lysy captures the cultural range of this country in this recording. He chose these particular works because they all draw inspiration from the folk music traditions of Argentina.

11th Latin Grammy Award Winning Album

TAS Super LP List - The Absolut Sound

The Absolute Sound 40th Anniversary Best Sounding Music!

Rated 11/11 Music and 11/11 Sound by Michael Fremer (Analog Planet)

• Audiophile Analog Recording
• 180 Gram Audiophile Vinyl
• Pressed at Pallas in Germany
• Mastered by Steve Hoffman & Bob Attiyeh
• All analog cut by Doug Sax
• Cut at The Mastering Lab

Cellist Antonio Lysy has performed as soloist worldwide, in major concert halls, appearing with orchestras such as the Royal Philharmonic and Philharmonia Orchestras of London, Camerata Academica of Salzburg, Zurich Tonhalle, the Zagreb Soloists, Orchestra di Padova e il Veneto, Israel Sinfonietta, and in Canada with the Montreal, Toronto, Symphony Orchestras, and Les Violons du Roi. He has collaborated with distinguished conductors such as Yuri Temirkanov, Charles Dutoit, Sir Yehudi Menuhin, and Sandor Vegh.

With The Music of Argentina, the virtuosic cellist has achieved that ever-rare feat in record-making: A phenomenal disc of performance mated with equally phenomenal sound. Trust us: You will rarely, if ever, hear a more realistic-sounding LP of cello and piano. Mastered at the Mastering Lab by Steve Hoffman, with lacquers cut by Doug Sax, and involving no compression or limiting, this 180g LP is just amazing. The original performances were also recorded on vacuum-tube microphones to preserve the sonic integrity. If you don't believe our rave opinion, here's what MusicAngle.com writer and analog maven Michael Fremer said in his June 2011 review:

"About the sound: this was recorded at The Broad Stage in Santa Monica using an AKG C-24 stereo tube microphone fitted with its original brass C12 tube, to Agfa 468 tape. Cables were Yarlung-Records-designed stranded silver interconnects, preamps were customized vacuum tube units, with no mixer involved. Doug Sax and Sangwook Nam mastered for vinyl at The Mastering Lab with no compression or limiting. The stage is spacious, the mix of direct to reflected sound is ideal, the image solidity, stability and focus are life-like and the level of transparency and freedom from electronic artifacts are unsurpassed in my listening experience."

I am delighted to present this music by Astor Piazzolla, Alberto Ginastera, José Bragato, Osvaldo Golijov and Lalo Schifrin. These works highlight the cello as a solo instrument and illustrate the impact of pre-Hispanic Amerindian traditions and Spanish based Creole influences as well as the effect of more modern musical developments like the tango on Argentine composers.

My personal interest in this music emanates from my heritage: My father Alberto, to whom I lovingly and respectfully dedicate this album, was born in Argentina and returned there frequently throughout his distinguished career as a concert violinist and pedagogue. On my first journey to Argentina with him when I was a young performing cellist, he introduced me to the sounds and textures of a fascinating and colorful country, one I had only previously known as a child on vacation. All of a sudden this music filled me, from Ginastera’s rhythmically contrasting works to the sentimental and passionate Tangos played over the radio, to the rich repertoire of folk songs performed by Eduardo Falú.

On each successive return I discovered more about the wonders of the land extending from the icebergs beyond Tierra del Fuego in the south, to the jungle and waterfalls of Iguazú in the north. I learned more about the fabulous and simultaneously tragic history of the many peoples of Argentina, drinking Yerba mate and discussing the Guardia Vieja (the first generation of tango players) with the Porteños (people from Buenos Aires), riding horses with friends in the Pampas, the rich Argentine grasslands.

Unforgettable events included playing in the large, ornate, Italianate opera house, the Teatro Colón, going to the many post concert asados (Argentine barbecue feasts) at country estancias or ranches. Over the years I continued to search for Argentine music written for my instrument, and I asked composers and arrangers to create more works for ‘cello. It is my privilege to be presenting some of these works in this recording.

"Among the most beautiful recordings of cello and piano you are likely ever to hear." - Michael Fremer, Musicangle, June 2011

"Classical music recorded all-analog using purist microphone techniques are few these days. Here is one from Bob Attiyeh's Yarlung Records that is both sonically and musically exquisite... The stage is spacious, the mix of direct to reflected sound is ideal, the image solidity, stability and focus are life-like and the level of transparency and freedom from electronic artifacts are unsurpassed in my listening experience... If this recording doesn't move you emotionally you are brain dead. If you don't agree that this is one of the finest recordings you have ever heard, your system needs to go in for repairs. " - Michael Fremer, Musicangle, June 2011

"Cellist Antonio Lysy and pianist Bryan Pezzone play gorgeously and are gorgeously recorded. Sonics are holographic in clarity and presence, rich in tonal splendor, and revealing of the venue (Santa Monica's The Broad Stage). Just listen to the deeply resonant cello pizzicatos that reverberate into silence at the end Schifrin's Pampas. This is one of the most realistic and beautiful records I've heard - ever." - Mark Lehman, The Absolute Sound, December 2012

Track Listing:

Side A

Alberto Ginastera (1916-1983)
Pampeana No. 2

Lalo Schifrin (b.1932)
Pampas

Side B

Alberto Ginastera
Triste

Astor Piazzolla (1921-1992)
Le Grand Tango
Oblivion