{"id":3472,"date":"2026-06-16T19:17:41","date_gmt":"2026-06-16T23:17:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/alcguitar.com\/blog\/?p=3472"},"modified":"2026-06-16T19:23:31","modified_gmt":"2026-06-16T23:23:31","slug":"review-the-arts-fuse","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/alcguitar.com\/blog\/review-the-arts-fuse\/","title":{"rendered":"REVIEW &#8211; The Arts Fuse"},"content":{"rendered":"<h4><em>Thank you to The Arts Fuse and Jonathan Blumhofer for the insightful review of GUITAR AMERICA 250!<\/em><\/h4>\n<p>Read the review online: <a href=\"https:\/\/artsfuse.org\/330293\/classical-album-review-guitar-america-250-revolutionaries-and-rockstars\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">https:\/\/artsfuse.org\/330293\/classical-album-review-guitar-america-250-revolutionaries-and-rockstars\/<\/a><\/p>\n<h1>BOSTON&#8217;S PREMIER ONLINE ARTS MAGAZINE<\/h1>\n<div class=\"fl-page\">\n<header class=\"fl-builder-content fl-builder-content-269935 fl-builder-global-templates-locked\" role=\"banner\" data-post-id=\"269935\" data-type=\"header\" data-sticky=\"0\" data-sticky-on=\"\" data-sticky-breakpoint=\"medium\" data-shrink=\"0\" data-overlay=\"0\" data-overlay-bg=\"transparent\" data-shrink-image-height=\"50px\">\n<div class=\"fl-row fl-row-full-width fl-row-bg-color fl-node-rzwlnsdthxay fl-row-default-height fl-row-align-center\" data-node=\"rzwlnsdthxay\">\n<div class=\"fl-row-content-wrap\">\n<div class=\"fl-row-content fl-row-fixed-width fl-node-content\">\n<div class=\"fl-col-group fl-node-f6x197e40qz8 fl-col-group-equal-height fl-col-group-align-top fl-col-group-custom-width fl-col-group-responsive-reversed\" data-node=\"f6x197e40qz8\">\n<div class=\"fl-col fl-node-8jvapxgw4k2i fl-col-bg-color fl-col-small fl-col-small-custom-width\" data-node=\"8jvapxgw4k2i\">\n<div class=\"fl-col-content fl-node-content\">\n<div class=\"fl-module fl-module-photo fl-node-cg2e8mjn97pb\" data-node=\"cg2e8mjn97pb\">\n<div class=\"fl-module-content fl-node-content\">\n<div class=\"fl-photo fl-photo-align-right\" role=\"figure\">\n<div class=\"fl-photo-content fl-photo-img-png\"><a href=\"https:\/\/artsfuse.org\/\" target=\"_self\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"fl-photo-img wp-image-269937 size-large\" title=\"The Arts Fuse logo\" src=\"https:\/\/artsfuse.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/The-Arts-Fuse-logo-600x250.png\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\" srcset=\"https:\/\/artsfuse.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/The-Arts-Fuse-logo-600x250.png 600w, https:\/\/artsfuse.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/The-Arts-Fuse-logo-300x125.png 300w, https:\/\/artsfuse.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/The-Arts-Fuse-logo-768x320.png 768w, https:\/\/artsfuse.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/The-Arts-Fuse-logo-1536x640.png 1536w, https:\/\/artsfuse.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/The-Arts-Fuse-logo-2048x853.png 2048w\" alt=\"The Arts Fuse logo\" width=\"600\" height=\"250\" data-no-lazy=\"1\"><\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"fl-col fl-node-zghak5eo74f2 fl-col-bg-color fl-col-small-custom-width\" data-node=\"zghak5eo74f2\">\n<div class=\"fl-col-content fl-node-content\">\n<div class=\"fl-module fl-module-pp-smart-button fl-node-m78r03ntdu94\" data-node=\"m78r03ntdu94\">\n<div class=\"fl-module-content fl-node-content\">\n<div class=\"pp-button-wrap pp-button-width-auto\">Classical Album Review: \u201cGuitar America 250 \u2014 Revolutionaries and Rockstars\u201d<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/header>\n<div id=\"fl-main-content\" class=\"fl-page-content\" role=\"main\">\n<div class=\"fl-builder-content fl-builder-content-269951 fl-builder-global-templates-locked\" data-post-id=\"269951\">\n<div class=\"fl-row fl-row-full-width fl-row-bg-none fl-node-fo6v23clx4gz fl-row-default-height fl-row-align-center\" data-node=\"fo6v23clx4gz\">\n<div class=\"fl-row-content-wrap\">\n<div class=\"fl-row-content fl-row-fixed-width fl-node-content\">\n<div class=\"fl-col-group fl-node-2v47nfskb0jl\" data-node=\"2v47nfskb0jl\">\n<div class=\"fl-col fl-node-x1jfdt6omrl3 fl-col-bg-color\" data-node=\"x1jfdt6omrl3\">\n<div class=\"fl-col-content fl-node-content\">\n<div class=\"fl-module fl-module-fl-post-info fl-node-vaux68miz375\" data-node=\"vaux68miz375\">\n<div class=\"fl-module-content fl-node-content\"><span class=\"fl-post-info-date\">June 15, 2026<\/span><span class=\"fl-post-info-sep\">|<\/span><span class=\"fl-post-info-comments\"><a tabindex=\"-1\" href=\"https:\/\/artsfuse.org\/330293\/classical-album-review-guitar-america-250-revolutionaries-and-rockstars\/#respond\" aria-hidden=\"true\">Leave a Comment<\/a><\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"fl-module fl-module-pp-social-share fl-node-q2emwxg7fd9j\" data-node=\"q2emwxg7fd9j\">\n<div class=\"fl-module-content fl-node-content\">\n<div class=\"pp-social-share-content pp-share-buttons-view-icon-text pp-share-buttons-skin-gradient pp-share-buttons-shape-square pp-social-share-col-0 pp-share-buttons-align-left pp-share-buttons-color-official\">\n<div class=\"pp-social-share-inner\">\n<div class=\"pp-share-grid-item\">&nbsp;<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"fl-module fl-module-fl-post-content fl-node-xnv8eputfw9j\" data-node=\"xnv8eputfw9j\">\n<div class=\"fl-module-content fl-node-content\">\n<p><strong>By Jonathan Blumhofer<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><em>Guitarist Aaron Larget-Caplan\u2019s ambitious survey reframes the American story through guitar, poetry, and protest.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright size-full wp-image-330298\" src=\"https:\/\/artsfuse.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/gutiar-america-250-alc.jpg\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 350px) 100vw, 350px\" srcset=\"https:\/\/artsfuse.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/gutiar-america-250-alc.jpg 350w, https:\/\/artsfuse.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/gutiar-america-250-alc-251x250.jpg 251w, https:\/\/artsfuse.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/gutiar-america-250-alc-150x150.jpg 150w\" alt=\"\" width=\"350\" height=\"349\"><\/p>\n<p>Though it may sometimes seem otherwise, nobody\u2019s got a monopoly on the American story\u2014in part because there is no single tale to be told.<\/p>\n<p>For proof of this, look no further than Aaron Larget-Caplan\u2019s&nbsp;<em>Guitar America 250: Revolutionaries and Rockstars<\/em>. Bringing together 200+ years of song, verse, and musical experimentation, the album marks the nation\u2019s semiquincentennial through, on the one hand, a warm dose of traditional patriotism. On the other, it embraces, sometimes with admirable subtlety, the United States\u2019 heritage of dissent and protest. Along the way, it makes room for several unfamiliar voices (as well as some more familiar names) to speak, sometimes literally.<\/p>\n<p>The latter emerge in the form of poetry interspersed between musical numbers. Those include Frances <strong>Ellen Watkins Harper\u2019s<\/strong> \u201cSongs for the People\u201d and <strong>Walt Whitman\u2019s<\/strong> \u201cProud Music of the Storm,\u201d timely, aspirational texts read, respectively, by <strong>Trevor Neal<\/strong> and <strong>Charles Coe.<\/strong> An excerpt from <strong>John Cage\u2019s<\/strong> \u201cMureau\u201d (recited by <strong>Jeffrey Lependorf<\/strong>) meditates on the natural world, while Larget-Caplan\u2019s reconfiguration of the Bill of Rights underlines some of the contradictions at the heart of the American experiment.<\/p>\n<p>Far from disrupting the flow of the larger project, these spoken insertions tend to reinforce (and are reinforced by) the music surrounding them, most of which has been arranged by Larget-Caplan. \u201cSongs for the People,\u201d for instance, is framed by a pair of anthems\u2014\u201cThe Star-Spangled Banner\u201d and \u201cLift Every Voice and Sing\u201d\u2014and \u201cAmerica the Beautiful.\u201d \u201cProud Music of the Storm\u201d falls between <strong>Irving Berlin\u2019s<\/strong> \u201cGod Bless America\u201d and <strong>Paul Simon\u2019s<\/strong> \u201cAmerica.\u201d The Cage text is sandwiched between excerpts from the composer\u2019s&nbsp;<em>Apartment House 1776<\/em>.<\/p>\n<p>That much of the music is reflective in tone makes for a welcome corrective to the bombast and sentimentality that often accompanies July 4<sup>th<\/sup>&nbsp;celebrations. \u201cGod Bless America,\u201d with its tremolo figurations, comes out particularly well. So\u2014surprisingly enough\u2014does the National Anthem. At the other end of the spectrum, <strong>Joseph Brackett\u2019s<\/strong> \u201cSimple Gifts\u201d is unexpectedly robust and dance-like.<\/p>\n<p>Larget-Caplan\u2019s repertoire also mines some less expected terrain. You\u2019d perhaps expect \u201cThe Battle Hymn of the Republic\u201d or \u201cAmerica\u201d (from&nbsp;<em>West Side Story<\/em>) to make appearances, and they do. But there\u2019s also a rendition of <strong>George F. Root\u2019s<\/strong> Civil War classic, \u201cThe Battle Cry of Freedom,\u201d as well as a peppy arrangement of <strong>George M. Cohan\u2019s<\/strong> \u201cOver There.\u201d <strong>Alan Hovhaness\u2019s<\/strong> coyly limber&nbsp;<em>Mystic Flute<\/em>&nbsp;makes for an apt lead-in to <strong>Eddie Van Halen\u2019s<\/strong> sweet, swaying<em>&nbsp;316<\/em>.<\/p>\n<p>A pair of works written for the guitarist\u2014<strong>David Liptak\u2019s<\/strong>&nbsp;<em>Freight (after Elizabeth Cotton)<\/em>&nbsp;and <strong>Ian Wiese\u2019s<\/strong>&nbsp;<em>Midnight Train<\/em>\u2014provide, respectively, some refreshing plays of dissonance and moments of hypnotic pause (the latter is, improbably, an homage to the Red Line\u2019s Braintree jag). Meantime, Larget-Caplan and violinist <strong>Irina Muresanu<\/strong> deliver a beautiful account of Florence Price\u2019s&nbsp;<em>Adoration<\/em>.<\/p>\n<p>In all of his arrangements, Larget-Caplan\u2019s command of both his instrument\u2019s capabilities and his materials is first-rate. Nothing borders on predictable or clich\u00e9; harmonic turns and percussive effects in \u201cThe Battle Hymn of the Republic\u201d are particularly ear-catching.<\/p>\n<p>But nothing quite tops the guitarist\u2019s reworkings of Cage\u2019s bicentennial homage, whose adaptations of music by William Billings and James Lyon are radiant and haunting. Better than anything else here, these two tracks\u2014\u201cJudea\u201d and \u201cO Give Thanks\u201d\u2014call to mind the fragility of the American democratic experiment while also emphasizing its underlying resilience and endurance.<\/p>\n<hr>\n<p><strong>Jonathan Blumhofer<\/strong>&nbsp;is a composer and violist who has been active in the greater Boston area since 2004. His music has received numerous awards and been performed by various ensembles, including the American Composers Orchestra, Kiev Philharmonic, Camerata Chicago, Xanthos Ensemble, and Juventas New Music Group. Since receiving his doctorate from Boston University in 2010, Jon has taught at Clark University, Worcester Polytechnic Institute, and online for the University of Phoenix, in addition to writing music criticism for the&nbsp;<em>Worcester Telegram &amp; Gazette<\/em>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Thank you to The Arts Fuse and Jonathan Blumhofer for the insightful review of GUITAR AMERICA 250! Read the review online: https:\/\/artsfuse.org\/330293\/classical-album-review-guitar-america-250-revolutionaries-and-rockstars\/ BOSTON&#8217;S PREMIER ONLINE ARTS MAGAZINE Classical Album Review: \u201cGuitar America 250 \u2014 Revolutionaries and Rockstars\u201d June 15, 2026|Leave a Comment &nbsp; By Jonathan Blumhofer Guitarist Aaron Larget-Caplan\u2019s ambitious survey reframes the American story [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[339,6,53],"tags":[608,623,255],"class_list":["post-3472","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-john-cage","category-recordings","category-reviews-2","tag-guitar-america-250","tag-mureau","tag-the-arts-fuse"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/alcguitar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3472","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/alcguitar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/alcguitar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/alcguitar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/alcguitar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3472"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/alcguitar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3472\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3474,"href":"http:\/\/alcguitar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3472\/revisions\/3474"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/alcguitar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3472"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/alcguitar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3472"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/alcguitar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3472"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}