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'This volume includes half of the repertoire on Yarlung's recording Takacs Assad Labro. The album earned a Latin Grammy* nomination and has delighted listeners and reviewers around the world. We hope you enjoy this 180-gram pressing mastered for you by Bernie Grundman.

'J and Helen Schlichting kindly enabled Yarlung to commission Constellation, a three-movement work for violin and piano, performed together in this recording. Clarice Assad wrote for Takacs violinist Harumi Rhodes on violin and for herself on piano. The work celebrates Clarice's nuclear family of four. Clarice directs that the movements can be played in any order. For this record, Harumi and Clarice perform 'Celestial' first, in which Clarice envisions Stella, her as-yet-unborn daughter, still in the womb when Clarice composed it. (Stella was very much present at the time of this recording.) Clarice's instinct told her something of what beautiful Stella would be like. She arrived peacefully and possessed a sense of calm that Clarice confessed she had never encountered before. 'Estrellita (Little Star)' comes next, a movement Clarice wrote as a children's song for Antonia, Clarice's older daughter, a little fireball of energy. 'Antonia is like a shooting star, with bright eyes and a personality that fills our entire universe with excitement and bright colors.'

'This performance ends with 'Solais (Sunshine), ' a movement [that] pays homage and celebrates Clarice's partner, evoking a sense of eternal, lasting love. It emanates warmth as this slow pulsating force sustains us, the revolving celestrial bodies dancing around it in awe and gratitude. Thank you Harumi and Clarice for painting such a happy domestic musical picture for us, and thank you Helen and J for your generous commission.

'Luminous' explodes with Clarice's interpretation of the life-affirming power of Brazilian jazz. The percussive piano introduction launches the listener into the joyous syncopated rhythms and arching melodic lines associated with the genre. 'Luminous' alternates duple and triplet sections in rondo form to drive the musical dialogue to a breathless and ecstatic conclusion, a celebration of life and music. Clarice, performing both voice and piano in this version, wrote 'Luminous' as part of her Pendulum Suite.

'Cravo e Canela (Clove and Cinnamon)': This is a song by Milton Nascimento, one of Brazil's most celebrated songwriters. Ronaldo Bastos wrote the Portuguese lyrics and the two created a classic Brazilian song that captures the essence of romance and the vivid colors of Brazil's cultural tapestry. Clarice's arrangement and performance breathes fresh energy into the song through her improvisation and innovative vocal techniques. Here she explores vocal techniques that push the boundaries of her beautiful voice. This was a treat to record, as I think you will understand when you listen.

'Our musicians join me in thanking our valient executive producers Craig and Diane Martin. We also greatly appreciate Helen and J Schlichting, Raulee Marcus and her team of valiant underwriters Don Pattison, Ann Horton, Aaron Egigian, David Leavenworth, Stephen A. Block, Joel and Shayne Marine and Chip and Sharyn Moore. You are terrific friends and visionaries, and we are grateful to you for making this great music available to the public.

'Fellow recording engineer and equipment designer Arian Jansen and I used SonoruS Holographic Imaging technology in the analog domain to refine the stereo image and Yarlung's SonoruS ATR12 to record Agfa-formula 468 analog tape... We used our friend Ted Ancona's AKG C24 microphone previously owned by Frank Sinatra, and Yarlung Audio vacuum tube microphone amplification designed and built for us by Elliot Midwood with power supply by Arian Jansen. It is always a pleasure to record in Samueli Theater at Segerstrom Center for the Arts in Costa Mesa, with beautiful and adjustable natural acoustics, which enable us to capture the musicians' brilliance just as they create it. Many thanks to our friends Aaron Egigian and David Leavenworth at Segerstrom Center for enabling us to work in this space. When you play this album, you can hear what Arian and I heard in the hall during our recording sessions. We 'mix and master' using microphone placement and hall adjustments. This means that no post production is necessary in a concert hall this beautiful, working with musicians and friends of this caliber. Thank you!'

-Bob Attiyeh, producer

Features

180g Vinyl

45rpm

Recorded April 12-13, 2023 at Segerstrom Center for the Arts

Recording Engineers: Bob Attiyeh & Arian Jansen

Mastering Engineers: Steve Hoffman, Arian Jansen, Bob Attiyeh

Vinyl Mastering: Bernie Grundman

Made in Germany

Musicians

Clarice Assad voice, piano

Harumi Rhodes violin

Selections

Clarice Assad (b. 1978)

Constellation

Celestial

Estrellita (Little Star)

Solais (Sunshine)

Clarice Assad

Luminous

Milton Nascimento (b. 1942)

Cravo e Canela