Archive for May, 2021

New Album – DRIFTING

DRIFTING – Volume 3 of the New Lullaby Project.

Releases on June 4 on Stone Records

Listen and buy now! http://alcguitar.bandcamp.com/album/drifting

Streaming available world wide on August 6.

Aaron Larget-Caplan continues his exploration of the lullaby with the third volume of 21st century guitar music with Drifting. The 15 solos for his New Lullaby Project were written between 2010 and 2020 by composers from four countries, and recorded in November 2020. All are world premiere recordings!

From the booklet:

In Drifting, some lullabies plead to or reflect humanity, while others testify to a memory and affirmation of a time passed by. There are lullabies born from an improvisation (Rivchun), patience and hope in love (Turner), a nod to Francisco Tarrega (Pence) and sleeping beauty (Drozd). One was written while I gave a lecture (McDonald), and others inspired by a nodding head (Green) and a dancing baby (Veloso). Some tell us to let the day be (Scharf), others acknowledge the troubles that await outside of our dream world (Schreiner), and then we hear a prayer and plea (Odriozola/Warren) and touches of love and friendship (Trester/Wiese). All the time a gorgeous 12-tone lullaby (Mashak) sits quietly to be discovered. The compositional language leans tonal and the tuning remains mostly standard, but don’t worry, harmonics still abound.
Mixed and mastered by the amazing Steve Hunt. Album design by the great Alex Fedorov. Produced, Performed, Recorded and Edited by Aaron Larget-Caplan.
Listen and buy now! http://alcguitar.bandcamp.com/album/drifting

REVIEW – Nights Transfigured

– May 2021
The Whole Note is a Canadien publication based in Toronto, Canada.
https://www.thewholenote.com/index.php/booksrecords2/booksrecords2-2

Guitarist Aaron Larget-Caplan follows up his 2010 CD New Lullaby – 14 Enchanting Ways to Fall Asleep with Nights Transfigured – Vol.2 of the New Lullaby Project, a second collection of short pieces by 14 different composers written for Larget-Caplan between 2009 and 2020 (Stone Records 5060192781106 stonerecords.co.uk).

Don’t be misled by the title. Although there’s obviously a general sense of calm throughout the CD, this isn’t a disc of music for children but a fascinating collection of exquisite contemporary miniatures for classical guitar that explore a wide range of musical languages and often employ extended guitar technique, all of it beautifully played and recorded.

LISTEN AND PURCHASE  THE ALBUM HERE: https://alcguitar.bandcamp.com/album/nights-transfigured

ALL THINGS CAGE – RADIO

All Things Cage: Conversations about John Cage.

Hosted by Laura Kuhn, Executive Director of the John Cage Trust.
Saturdays from 7 p.m. to 8 p.m.; Mondays from 4 a.m. to 5 a.m.
All Things Cage is a weekly program featuring conversations between Laura Kuhn, Director of the John Cage Trust, and Cage experts and enthusiasts from around the world. Aaron is featured in three episodes to date. If you’d like to propose a guest or a topic for a future program, write directly to Laura at lkuhn@johncage.org. She’d love to hear from you.
LISTEN FOR FREE!
Each episode includes music or lectures featuring John Cage.

SHOW 1
All Things Cage: Laura Kuhn and Aaron Larget-Caplan
 (Audio)

Jan 09, 2021
Hosted by Laura Kuhn, Executive Director of the John Cage Trust.

Aaron Larget-Caplan is an international recording, touring, and guitar virtuoso, one of those rare musicians who can seamlessly move between and among baroque, classical, and contemporary music in a single performance. He first came to my attention through his stunning 2018 CD entitled JOHN. CAGE. GUITAR, which contains arrangements of seven works by John Cage, composed between 1933 and 1950, all originally for piano or prepared piano: A Room, Three Easy Pieces, Chess Pieces, Dream, Six Melodies, In a Landscape, and Bacchanale.

This was the first-ever classical guitar recording dedicated to the work of John Cage and it includes not only arrangements for solo guitar, but also for violin and guitar and prepared guitar duo. Larget-Caplan is joined in this recording by violinist Sharan Leventhal (of the Kepler String Quartet) and guitarist Adam Levin. The music on this CD has been described as “…playful, meditative, meandering, introspective, large, quiet, rambunctious, haunting and regal.”

CLICK HERE TO LISTEN: https://wavefarm.org/wf/archive/8m5y5j

SHOW 2
All Things Cage: Aaron Larget-Caplan with Laura Kuhn
 (Audio)

Mar 13, 2021
Hosted by Laura Kuhn, Executive Director of the John Cage Trust.

The international recording, touring, and guitar virtuoso Aaron Larget-Caplan was Laura Kuhn’s second guest on All Things Cage on January 9, 2021, and soon after he was asking for an ex post facto quid pro quo: doing another program together, but with their roles reversed. With Larget-Caplan at the helm, their resulting conversation is almost entirely about Kuhn and her 30+ year journey with Cage, but Kuhn closes the program with a lengthy excerpt by Cage himself lifted from his first public performance of his Overpopulation and Art (1992) at Stanford University.

CLICK HERE TO LISTEN: https://wavefarm.org/wf/archive/2whnef

SHOW 3
All Things Cage: Aaron Larget-Caplan with Laura Kuhn, II
 (Audio)

May 08, 2021
Hosted by Laura Kuhn, Executive Director of the John Cage Trust.

The international recording, touring, and guitar virtuoso Aaron Larget-Caplan is back for the third time, having more questions for our host. Larget-Caplan was Laura Kuhn’s second guest on All Things Cage on January 9, 2021, and soon after he was asking for an ex post facto quid pro quo: doing another program together with their roles reversed. With Larget-Caplan at the helm, their resulting conversation was almost entirely about Kuhn and her 30+ year journey with Cage, but Kuhn closed the program with a lengthy excerpt by Cage from his first public performance of his Overpopulation and Art in 1992. For tonight’s program, Aaron again had his list of questions in hand, but we made it through only the first two. Mostly we talked about why we listen to music, what we’re really asking for from the choices we make, and how musicians tend more often to be active listeners.

CLICK HERE TO LISTEN (MAY 8 OR LATER): https://wavefarm.org/wf/archive/jrh0aw