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Reference CD Alert! Jung-A Lee, A Private Organ Recital in Walt Disney Hall

11-01-2018 | By Robert H. Levi | Issue 100

Jung-A Lee

Yarlung Records, YAR77215, gold substrate CD pressed in Germany. Also available in Single, Double, and Quad DSD download formats, stereo/multichannel

  • Organ Builder and Technician: Manuel Rosales 
  • Recording Engineers: Bob Attiyeh & Arian Jansen 
  • Microphone Technician: David Bock
  • Vacuum Tube Microphones: Ancona Audio Microphone
  • Preamplification: Elliot Midwood 
  • Stereo Mastering Engineers: Steve Hoffman & Bob Attiyeh
  • Surround Sound Mastering Engineer: Tom Caulfield 
  • Executive Producer: Jim Mulally

Just the facts...

The Walt Disney Concert Hall organ has 6134 pipes and weighs over 40 metric tons.

Completed in 2004, the length of the longest pipes is over 32 feet, and the largest pipe weighs over 1,000 lbs. The smallest pipe is the size of a small pencil, with a speaking length less than 1/4" long. The lowest note has a frequency of 16 cycles per second, which is C below the lowest note on a modern Steinway. The highest note has a fundamental frequency of 10,548 cycles per second, which is an octave and a third higher than the top note of a piano. 

"Jung-A earned her doctorate at Boston University, her master’s at Yale where she earned the Charles Ives prize, and her undergraduate degree at Toronto University. Jung-A served as organ scholar at The Memorial Church, Harvard University, during her time in Boston. Jung-A performs all over the world. In fact, she left for Paris for a concert in St. Etienne Cathedral in Meaux during the rehearsal period."

Notes about the recording

"Arian Jansen and  Bob Attiyeh used Ted Ancona’s famous "Frank Sinatra" AKG C-24 vacuum tube stereo microphone and two additional midhall Ted Ancona Schoeps M222 vacuum tube omnidirectional mono microphones. We used Elliot Midwood vacuum tube mic preamplification and fed these four tracks into our analog SonoruS Holographic Imaging processor. This SHI technology enabled us to produce a two channel mix to reproduce a more three-dimensional listening experience from two speakers. We captured this Holographic Imaging recording using a SonoruS ATR12 analog tape recorder, a SonoruS digital converter for high resolution PCM, and a Merging Technologies HAPI for DSD256. For more information about SonoruS Holographic Imaging please visit yarlungrecords.com/sonorus/"

Arian Jansen, a famed electrical engineer from Holland, invented the SonoruS Imaging Processor, working only in analog, and creating a three-dimensional sound field from two speakers! It eliminates the flat perspective of organ recordings and maintains the inner richness of the mids and lows convincingly. You will experience this effect even on headphones!

The Repertoire

  • "Woods and Brooks," Adam Knight Gilbert  
  • "Totentanz," Guy Bovet Carrillon de Westminster 
  • "Tierce en taille," Louis Vierne Elevation:
  • "Ciacona in C Minor," BuxWV 159, François Couperin
  • "Miroir Ad Wammes Toccata," John Weaver, Diderich Buxtehude
  • "Mein junges Leben hat ein End," Jan Pieterszoon Sweelinck 
  • "Prelude in B Minor," BWV 544, J. S. Bach 
  • "Fantasia on Blessed Assurance," Jung-A Lee 
  • "Les Anges," Olivier Messiaen 
  • "Concert Variations on the Star Spangled Banner," Dudley Buck

If all CDs sounded like this one, we would have never seen high-resolution media. It will be available in high-resolution downloads as well as 5.1, by the way. Check out the Yarlung Website for details.

I have waited patiently for 25+ years for the technically engaging, perfect, and uber enjoyable organ recording on any media...who would have guessed it would happen on CD first! Yarlung has done it. Attiyeh has masterminded it with taste levels sublime. Jansen has invented the missing link in holography. The selections are off the chart and down the street!

Become wrapped in acoustic ambiance from two channels. I sit 16 feet from my speakers and I was surrounded by ambiance and textures, tons of it. If your system is see-through neutral, you will be in Walt Disney Hall with Jung-A. This is a true reference CD. This is the audiophile recording of organ music without audible flaws. The performances are uncanny and note perfect. She pours her feelings into every note and it is involving and sensational.

With all this going on, the front half of the soundstage is not diminished in any way. Imaging is solid, tonality is perfect, depth is endless, and soundstaging in all dimensions are very realistic.

You cannot stop listening to this album...I dare you!

The Jung-A Lee, A Private Organ Recital in Walt Disney Hall is now available and a must-own for both extreme enjoyment and system torture. Plus the bass! Turn on your sub-woofer and fasten your seatbelt.

Available at Yarlungrecords.com right now. Order for yourself and your holiday gift giving.

Recorded June 14-15, 2018. It does not get more current than this folks.   

Note that this recording is also available in Single, Double, and Quad DSD in download format at NativeDSD.com. You’ll find it at HERE.