Guitarist Hoping to Alter Classical Music Perceptions

Thursday, May 11, 2006, by Scott McLennan, Worcester Telegram

Guitarist Aaron Larget-Caplan will accept his “classical music” categorization to a point. “It’s classical in the sense that what I play is written down. I don’t improvise,” he explained.

But the compositions that Larget-Caplan featured on his debut recording, “Tracing a Wheel on Water,” are not those that one associates with a “classical recording.” Basically, most of the composers who Larget-Caplan turned to are alive, and the music is not all that well known.

“Originally, I thought my debut record should be a traditional guitar recital. You know, me playing Bach, et cetera. But I didn’t want to buy that album. I don’t feel like I’m saying something different by playing that music,” the guitarist explained.

About a year ago, Larget-Caplan started getting repeated requests for a recording of the song “Tracing a Wheel on Water.” The only problem is that such a recording did not exist. But Larget-Caplan found himself with the root to his record.

Kevin Siegfried, who like Larget-Caplan is an alumnus of New England Conservatory of Music, wrote the piece, and the trick for the guitarist was to find songs by other composers that complemented Siegfried’s contemporary piece that grafts the rigor of classical music to the warmth of pastoral folk music.

Larget-Caplan drew upon other NEC connections, most notably receiving two pieces from award-winning composer Daniel Pinkham and Israeli composer Lior Navok.

Navok’s “Six for a Dance” opens Larget-Caplan’s album, and sets the tone for a bit of globe-trotting. The guitarist used “Equinox” by Japanese composer Toru Takemitsu, a tango by French writer Roland Dyens, a romantic suite by Paraguay’s Agustin Barrios Mangore, a spry arpeggio written by Spain’s Emilio Pujol-Villarrubi, and adaptations of two popular Cuban songs provided by Leo Brouwer.

Larget-Caplan let flow the album’s dozen tracks with barely a break to distinguish shifts. His playing on the nylon-string guitar sounds like a careful balance of head and heart, as the execution never lets mechanical precision overtake the music’s inherent emotional warmth.

And though Larget-Caplan performs composed pieces, the key to his art rests in large part within his interpretive skills.

“Classical music is an unbiased music. The performers bring to it what they want to bring to it,” he said.

And he pointed out that classical music asks more of its listeners since the pieces are intricate, often unfamiliar and not part of the everyday sounds people typically move through. But the payoffs tend to be bigger, he argued.

“We are at a prime time in terms of how we listen. There is so much music to listen to, and contemporary music has gotten really exciting. There are a lot of composers choosing not to follow any rules,” he said. “The Pinkham dances I got are like two little jewels. And they really complement the Takemitsu piece since that is dealing with space and sound and how we listen.”

Larget-Caplan is a native of Colorado who moved to Massachusetts to study music. He began at Boston University, studying with Worcester’s Peter Clemente, and within a year realized how much he didn’t know about the guitar. He transferred to the New England Conservatory of Music, and after performing at some festivals in Spain entertained the notion of moving to Europe. But upon meeting his future wife in Arlington, Larget-Caplan decided to reside around Boston and now makes his home in Southbridge. He teaches in Cambridge and at The Concord Conservatory.

Larget-Caplan said his goal is to get people to break down their preconceived notions about his instrument of choice, and that applies to both classical and contemporary camps.

“A lot of classical musicians look at the guitar and question if it can step up to the plate,” he said. “But there have been big changes over the past 25 to 30 years, and the guitar has proven that it can hold its own on both sides, the classical and the contemporary. That’s exciting.”

“Tracing a Wheel on Water” is available online at cdbaby.com and at Larget-Caplan’s Web site, www.aaronlc.com. Larget-Caplan has live dates this summer out West in Colorado and California, and in June is scheduling a performance for Spencer with details to be announced. His itinerary is posted at his Web site.