{"id":869,"date":"2016-10-23T20:23:22","date_gmt":"2016-10-24T00:23:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/alcguitar.com\/blog\/?p=869"},"modified":"2016-10-23T20:23:22","modified_gmt":"2016-10-24T00:23:22","slug":"cd-review-by-this-is-classical-guitar","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alcguitar.com\/blog\/cd-review-by-this-is-classical-guitar\/","title":{"rendered":"CD Review by This is Classical Guitar"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"screen-shot-2016-10-23-at-8-15-43-pm\"<\/strong>\"screen-shot-2016-10-23-at-8-18-07-pm\"\u00a0<\/strong>
\nThe Legend of Hagoromo<\/strong>
\nAmerican & Japanese Music for Classical Guitar
\nby Aaron Larget-Caplan
\n<\/a>Stone Records<\/a> 2015
\nVisit This is Classical Guitar<\/a><\/p>\n

I recently received this excellent recording, a mix of Japanese and American music performed by\u00a0Aaron Larget-Caplan. You probably recognize Larget-Caplan from his videos, concerts or his other projects such as my recent review of John Cage arrangements<\/a> or the New\u00a0Lullaby Project<\/a>. Also of note, Aaron Larget-Caplan is the first guitarist and first American to record on the UK label Stone Records<\/a>, visit their artist page<\/a> and spot the best bio pic of the bunch. \"Larget-Caplan-cover\"I haven\u2019t been doing as many reviews lately but I love albums that have a good programatic concept and this one delivers. No shortage of great repertoire here with all 20th Century to Contemporary works:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Keigo Fujii: The Legend of Hagoromo<\/li>\n
  2. Leo Brouwer: Hika, in memoriam Toru Takemitsu<\/li>\n
  3. Toru Takemitsu: Equinox<\/li>\n
  4. Ken Ueno: Ed \u00e8 subito sera*<\/li>\n
  5. Kota Nakamura: Sui-hou*<\/li>\n
  6. Harold Arlen: Over the rainbow<\/li>\n
  7. George Gershwin: Summertime<\/li>\n
  8. Martin MaxSchreiner: Japanese idyll no.1*<\/li>\n
  9. Martin Max Schreiner: Japanese idyll no.2*
    \n*Premi\u00e8re recording\u00a0<\/em><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    The Legend of Hagoromo<\/em>, an epic 18 minute singe movement work by Japanese composer Keigo Fujii (b.1956) is dedicated to David Russel with whom the composer studied guitar.\u00a0You can find a write up about this work in an article<\/a> on\u00a0Aaron Larget-Caplan\u2019s\u00a0site. It\u2019s a beautiful opening to the album with lush orchestral chords and pacing that ranges from improvisatory to determined forward moving momentum. Excellent musical playing by Larget-Caplan, and believe me, his playing is put to the test with a wide variety of textures and challenges in terms of balance and the large scope of the piece. You get orchestral brushing, sweet melodic lines, a little Spanish touch here and there, Japanese modes, tremolo, harmonics, everything. It meanders a bit but always brings you back with bouts of focused writing. Based on a folk tale, the composer used a\u00a016-bar song by Hiroshi Yamanoha (d. 1991), on the same title, as a basis for the work which helps tie it all together.<\/p>\n

    Takemitsu was an obvious choice for the album and\u00a0Equinox\u00a0delivers the goods. Also, perfectly in line with the album\u2019s concept,\u00a0Takemitsu\u2019s arrangements of Gershwin and Arlen connect\u00a0the two countries even if the music itself seems a bit out of place. General listeners will find it interesting to hear the two sides of Takemitsu ranging from contemplative\u00a0dissonance to\u00a0jazzy arrangements of\u00a0American music. The inclusion of Takemitsu also allows some bending of the rules to get Cuban composer Leo Brouwer\u2019s Hika, in memoriam Toru Takemitsu<\/em>\u00a0onto the album. Larget-Caplan\u2019s Brouwer delivers a focused performance with nice spaciousness where needed.<\/p>\n

    Personally, I was most interested to hear the new music on the album. On the American side we have a premiere by Ken Ueno (b.1970).\u00a0Ed \u00e8 subito sera <\/em>is\u00a0an exhilarating and hypnotic work combining some of the best textures the guitar can produce but not in a\u00a0clich\u00e9 way. The quick tremolo\/arpeggio effect with the surrounding twinkling notes and micotones (bends) are very\u00a0effective. Too bad this wasn\u2019t a multi-movement work as\u00a0it\u2019s very successful and well played\u00a0by Larget-Caplan with a driving determination. My only wish was that the composer would have extended the dissipation at the end to lasted\u00a0longer. Japanese-born composer Kota Nakamura\u2019s Sui-hou <\/em>is a\u00a0slow\u00a0but steady meditative expanse. I like how the work pulls the listener into single notes while exploring multiple textures around it. The melodic strumming is very successful and handled tastefully by Larget-Caplan.\u00a0Both works were commissioned for Aaron\u2019s New Lullaby Project<\/a> The Martin Max Schreiner arrangements of Two Japanese Idylls\u00a0<\/em>offer a mirror of the Takemitsu arrangements. These pretty, melodic, swaying works are a beautiful way to cool-down for the end of\u00a0the album. Plenty of interesting\u00a0effects reminiscent of traditional Japanese music and instruments:\u00a0angular strong-weak melodic lines,\u00a0bends, repetitive alternation, and percussion.<\/p>\n

    Overall good\u00a0recording quality, more of a studio sound\u00a0rather than live. It sounds\u00a0a bit on the\u00a0close-mic side with some overpowering mid-range to bass but nothing unpleasing. It\u00a0does offer a wide spectrum of warm bass\u00a0sounds to brighter\u00a0and plucky tones. I think the opening chords of Fujii\u2019s work is well suited to the mix with a warm, almost watery-bell-like sound emerging and the harmonics are nice and soft rather than piercing or too glassy. Maybe Equinox could have benefitted from a different mix but I\u2019m splitting hairs.\u00a0Also, because of the wide range of textures this mix ensures that the strumming and other effects are not harsh which was the right choice.<\/p>\n

    \u00a0<\/strong>Conclusion<\/strong><\/p>\n

    Aaron Larget-Caplan\u2019s\u00a0The Legend of Hagoromo\u00a0combines a conceptually strong programme with virtuosic\u00a0and sensitive performances all-around. From the epic work of\u00a0Fujii,\u00a0meditative Takemistsu and\u00a0Nakamura, to\u00a0the charming arrangements of American and Japanese songs, this album will not disappoint guitarists\u00a0or general listeners. More importantly, this is not just a random collection of concert works, but a focused project with new music, artistic creativity, and vision. \u00a0Highly recommended. \u2013 Bradford Werner (thisisclassicalguitar.com)<\/p>\n

    Read the full review on This is Classical Guitar<\/strong>: http:\/\/www.thisisclassicalguitar.com\/review-the-legend-of-hagoromo-aaron-larget-caplan\/<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    \u00a0 The Legend of Hagoromo American & Japanese Music for Classical Guitar by Aaron Larget-Caplan Stone Records 2015 Visit This is Classical Guitar I recently received this excellent recording, a mix of Japanese and American music performed by\u00a0Aaron Larget-Caplan. You probably recognize Larget-Caplan from his videos, concerts or his other projects such as my recent […]<\/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":[68,1,150,6,53],"tags":[138,189,158,197,196,87,157,94],"class_list":["post-869","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-contemporary-music","category-general","category-press","category-recordings","category-reviews-2","tag-ken-ueno","tag-kota-nakamura","tag-legend-of-hagoromo","tag-leo-brouwer","tag-martin-max-schreiner","tag-recording","tag-stone-records","tag-toru-takemitsu"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alcguitar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/869","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alcguitar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alcguitar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alcguitar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alcguitar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=869"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/alcguitar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/869\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":875,"href":"https:\/\/alcguitar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/869\/revisions\/875"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alcguitar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=869"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alcguitar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=869"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alcguitar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=869"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}