Archive for the ‘Video’ Category

Premiere of Felsenfeld’s ‘Only Winter Certainties’

On April 15, I have the great honor and pleasure of giving the world premiere of Daniel Felsenfeld’s first guitar solo ‘Only Winter Certainties‘ on Bargemusic in Brooklyn, New York.
 
Danny was a doctoral student at the New England Conservatory when I was an undergraduate, so our paths did not meet directly, but it was impossible not to hear his music. Your life will be better hearing his music.
 
‘Only Winter Certainties is a 12min work subtitled ‘5 Preludes for guitar,’ with each movement’s individual title coming from an author or musician. Standard tuning and no extended techniques, Danny pushes the performer technically to realize a kaleidoscope of emotions while maintaining an anxious intensity and deep clarity.
 
Danny and I sat down last week and talked about this endeavor.  A voracious reader, Danny talks about composing, why it took so long to write for guitar, and so much more. Yes, his puppy joined us.  
 
Take a listen:
 

 

Upcoming Concerts

4/15 – Bargemusic concert info: HERE
5/7 – Art Complex Museum, Duxbury, MA: HERE
5/19 – The Music Mansion, Providence: HERE
5/20 – Now Musique at the Arlington Street Church, Boston: 

Lesson: Dream by John Cage

Recently I received a few questions from an Australian guitarist via Twitter regarding how I play a couple of spots in  John Cage’s Dream, so I decided to make a brief video on the part in question. 

Do you have questions on this piece or another of my Cage arrangements?

Let me know and I’ll go about making more.

The Lesson (3′):

 

Brief History: How Dream came into my life

From 2010-2014 I hosted Greater Boston House Concerts. I sat just behind the wonderful pianist Barbara Lieurance as she performed Dream.

I fell in love. The meandering line was simple yet kept me guessing where it would go.

The transparent chordal harmonies that interrupt the melodic line prepare the listener for extended melodies with the harmonies only being hinted with the magical use of the pedal allowing each note’s resonance to build upon the implied harmonies.

Single notes and their overtones become a lush painting of colors. 

Though the guitar only has one string per note (kind of) to the piano’s 3, and its lack of a sustain pedal, I decided to arrange it. 

The greatest challenge is finding a fingering that will allow for the most amount of resonance.

To do this I use campanella (cross-string fingering) and a healthy mix of natural and harmonic notes

It is recorded on John. Cage. Guitar. (Stone Records UK) and published by Edition Peters in CAGE: Piano Music Arranged for Guitar

Premiere Performance (not the same fingering):

Streaming Studio Recording (7′):

SPOTIFY • AMAZON • APPLE MUSIC • YOUTUBE MUSIC

SCORE: John Cage: Piano Music Arranged for Guitar (7 pieces)

Bandcamp • Edition Peters

Chamber Music with Convergence Ensemble

On Sunday November 20th at Saint Mary’s Episcopal Church in Dorchester, I had the pleasure of collaborating on an exciting program of chamber music for Convergence Ensemble with three wonderful musicians: violinist Heidi Braun-Hill, violist Michelle LaCourse, cellist Hyun-Ji Kwon, and myself. 

Strings Galore featured music duos with guitar for violin, viola, and cello by John Cage, Antonio Celso Ribeiro, and Thomas L. Read, as well two quartets for strings and guitar by Roland Dyens and Libby Larsen. A trio by Beethoven, and two guitar solos by Bach and yours truly rounded out the program.

Directed by Rachel Goodwin, Convergence Ensemble seeks to stimulate, support, and inspire stronger connections within and between New England communities through chamber music concerts and community enrichment programs. 

This was my first collaboration with Convergence Ensemble and the musician, and it was awesome!

Rarely do I have the pleasure of sharing 40min of chamber music, and relatively new chamber music, in a single concert. 

Huge thanks to Rachel Goodwin, Rose Hegel, and the Convergence Ensemble board for organizing the concert.

To the composers and friends Antonio Celso Ribeiro and Thomas L. Read, and to the lovely musicians who were gems to create music with.

We will be performing more, so stay tuned!

 

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Microphone by Your Heaven Audio. Guitar strings by Hannabach

VIDEO: Prelude 1 by J.S. Bach

NEW VIDEO:

The first video from God’s Time – Music of J.S. Bach on Guitar

What do you think?

PUBLICATION – Cage’s Bacchanale for 2 Guitars

NEWS!

My arrangement of John Cage’s prepared piano work Bacchanale for 2 prepared guitars is now available through Edition Peters Group !!!

Guitar Preparations

 
Written in 1940, Bacchanale is the earliest of John Cage’s prepared piano works, which was originally written for choreographer and fellow faculty member at Cornish College, Syvilla Fort, who was one of the earliest black choreographers of modern dance in the US.
 
 
From John. Cage. Guitar.

“A rhythmically riotous piece, polyrhythms are created through the music’s consistently adjusting groupings and meters. Bacchanale was first conceived by Cage as a dance work for percussion ensemble by fellow Cornish College faculty choreographer Syvilla Fort, who asked for a composition of African inspiration. The space of the performance was not large enough to allow for the battery of percussion instruments, so Cage decided to fix weather stripping, bolts, screws and nuts into the strings of the piano to create a percussion ensemble, and the first work for prepared piano was born. Its large form being Fast-Slow-Fast, the outside sections are also broken into smaller sections of various levels of Fast-Faster-Fast. The middle section is marked Very Slow-Slow-Slower and has only one dynamic triple piano (ppp). The preparation of the guitars consisted of paper woven through strings 6-2, and an alligator clip on the first string with two washers around it. It is as close to rock and roll as one can get in 1940 or with classical guitars.”

It is the closing track of John. Cage. Guitar, Recorded with Adam Levin on Stone Records.

The score comes with preparation instructions and photos.

Score from Edition Peters: HERE

Signed score directly from Aaron via Bandcamp: HERE

Hear it on John. Cage. Guitar. : SPOTIFY 

Here it live on November 5 at Pomona College in Claremont, California with Aaron Larget-Caplan and Buzz Gravelle

 

Syvilla Fort

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
VIDEO:

Videos – Guitar Salon International

On April 10, I had the pleasure of visiting Guitar Salon International in Santa Monica, California.

This was my third time recording videos for GSI.

I collaborated with  videographer Felix Salazar for a set of six videos on six different guitars.

Starting April 18, one video a week will be released on their YouTube Channel.

I performed my own composition sweet nuance, two pieces by John Cage, and three of my arrangements of J.S. Bach.

I will add the videos to this blog post as they are published.

Your comments, here or on Youtube, are greatly appreciated!

Scroll down for a playlist of my GSI Videos from the 3 visits.

And click to see a 2015 Player Spotlight they made of me.

Video 1: ‘sweet nuance’ by Aaron Larget-Caplan

Video 2: Prelude in D-minor, BWV 926 by J.S. Bach,  Arr. ALC

Video 3: Duo from Three Easy Pieces by John Cage, Arr. ALC

Video 4: Prelude in C-major, BWV 939  by J.S. Bach, Arr. ALC

Video 5: Infinite Cannon from Three Easy Pieces by John Cage, Arr. ALC

Video 6: Prelude in A-minor, BWV 999/872 by J.S. Bach, Arr. ALC

Video Playlist of 3 visits to GSI, 2015, 2017, 2022 (10 videos):

Video Premiere – Sweet Nuance

On Friday April 1st, the video premiere of the first single from honey cadence will be live!

sweet nuance was born in early January 2022, from an improvisation and idea: a repeated harmonic figure (ostinato) with a melody floating over. I sought to capture a moment of stillness that is both intimate and timeless. sweet nuance, the first piece on my instrumental album honey cadence, marks my debut as a composer. The solo felt special as soon as I found it and resides close to my heart. Having only focused on performing and arranging for almost 20 years, composing this album in just a couple of weeks was magic.

Thanks for watching!!

Save sweet nuance to your Spotify and Apple Music here: https://fanlink.to/sweetnuance

California Tour April 2022!

I’m super excited to be getting back on the road for the first 2020.

3/30 – Class & Masterclass, SF State University, San Francisco
4/1 – Concert, Museum of Northern California Art, Chico
4/2 – Concert, South Bay Guitar Society, San Jose
4/3 – Masterclass, South Bay Guitar Society, San Jose
4/3 – Concert, Center for New Music, San Francisco
4/5-7 – Artist Residency with two concerts, CSU Bakersfield
4/8 – Classes, Cal Poly Pomona University, Pomona
4/10 – Video Shoot, Guitar Salon International (GSI)
4/11 – Guest Artist Performance for the Encinitas Guitar Orchestra
* individual information can be found at the links above or on my calendar: alcguitar.com/calendar

Programs*:
A mix of new Bach keyboard arrangements, popular songs by Gershwin and Arlen, solos by John Cage and from the New Lullaby Project by Antonio Celso Ribeiro, Laurie Spiegel, Ian Wiese, Brian Schober, Ken Ueno, Antony R. Green, and Stepan Rak, the Legend of Hagoromo by Keigo Fujii, new works for guitar+electronics by Tom Flaherty, Lainie Fefferman, and Lou Bunk, and my own original compositions from ‘honey cadence’. Lots and lots of music!

Concerts are still being announced so check back in for more!

*Concert programs vary by venue.

Video – España Cañi – Gypsy Spain

One of my most popular videos, España Cañi by Pascual Marquina is a classical music standard, though not for guitar! Originally written for orchestra there are few transcriptions for guitar solo. I made this at the request of the phenomenal flamenco and bolero dancer Gabriela Granados.

This is the premiere performance in 2011 in Springfield, Massachusetts and filmed on point and shoot camera. Who knew it would take off!?

My arrangement has changed in a few places since 2011, but the energy and excitement of the music remains central to the realization. It combines classical and flamenco techniques into a serious solo. You can find scores (tab and standard notation) in my website STORE.

Tutorial – Using Variation

A brief video demonstrating how one can practice a “lick/run” using rhythmic variations and groupings. The music is from Tango En Skaï by Roland Dyens.

Here’s a video of the complete piece (with lots of variation):