This disc of a programme comprised entirely of lullabies especially written for this recording project by a variety of American composers is sub-titled 14 Enchanting Ways to Fall Asleep; what a field-day any reviewer could have had with that title if only this was a poor, inconsequential recording. As it is, here are 50+ minutes’ worth of attractive, mostly peaceful, compositions, music to sooth and relax to.

The liner notes tell of two distinct types of lullaby: one which gives ‘warmth and protection to the listener’, the other being of a darker nature with ‘hints of fear’’ the greater part of New Lullaby is given to the former and due to the skill of the performer, the expertise of the writing and let’s not forget the first-rate quality of the recorded sound, this is an attractive package all-around. Ideal late-night listening – recommended. – Steve Marsh

“It’s not every musician who invites you to fall asleep during his performance. But while it often happens at recitals–by invitation or not–usually it’s for the wrong reasons. “New Lullaby,” despite its subtitle, “14 enchanting ways to fall asleep,” will not put you to sleep. On the contrary, it is a beautiful, perceptive, and evocative performance that earns and deserves your rapt appreciation. Most of all, however, it felt to me like a courageous exploration of a mood or a state that is rarely identified, and these days all-too rarely enjoyed: attentive peacefulness. It is the mood of listening to a story before you fall asleep, of letting your mind relax and attend. A calm, meditative, expansive, playful, serious mood of lingering with your imagination. Listening to these fourteen pieces, you have the feeling that anything might happen. Aaron Larget-Caplan’s playing is sensitive, assured, and spontaneous. Like a good storyteller, he keeps you listening and leaves you wanting more. And as with the best performances, “New Lullaby” wakes you up to a world of new experiences.”

NEW LULLABY • Aaron Larget-Caplan (gtr)
SIX STRING SOUND

I immediately took to Aaron Larget-Caplan, the moment I read his artist’s notes here: “I do not have kids,” he announces before explaining the harrowing experiences that followed the genesis of this lullaby project, four years ago. After the initial proposal to various composers for guitar lullabies, his house burned down, taking the new music with it. Then his wife was seriously injured two months later. Through these traumas, and with no fixed abode, Larget-Caplan has not been sleeping too well, and still the new lullabies kept coming in. His note of irony in the midst of genuine tragedy creates, in my mind, a very sincere musician. More importantly, he is a fine player, a classical guitarist with a keen ear for new music. He appears to have given his composers free rein with the lullaby form. This is not some, godawful, Classics-for-Baby CD, but 13 composers’ attempts at the lullaby form, not just in its healing wish to send someone to sleep, but also in its other, more folktale guise of the unsettling nighttime world.

Personal experience seems to be the overriding theme of these works. The wistful, sad No Time came from the composer [Jonathan Feist] waiting for his premature baby to be big enough to leave the hospital. Others take their inspiration from literature, like Wheeler’s Nachtlied, or McDonald’s You Are Alone To Sleep, while others can create little gems from the mundane, like the fast, drip-dripping of Leaky Roof [Feist]. Certainly, the first 30 minutes of this disc work as relaxation. If this sounds a little too soporific for some, there are darker works to pepper this sweet-toned album, like the urgent episode in the otherwise gentle Descent to a Dream [Small], the night excursions of a restless mind. Vayo’s Berceuse is actually quite frightening with its humming and whistling vocal line, lending the pleasant tune an eerie, otherworldly atmosphere. My one slight reservation is the order of the tracks, with these edgier works coming toward the end after an undemanding first half.

Many will think Song Softly Sung, in Trying Times bizarrely suffers from tape hiss, when in fact Schwartz is wittily trying to depict an urban lullaby, in a dirty apartment complete with off-air television snow. That could have been better conveyed, but otherwise the recital has been beautifully recorded, catching every expressive detail of Larget-Caplan’s playing. He is not afraid to change his sound for the right purpose; sometimes he achieves a harp-like sweetness, and at others he can be acerbic and unsettling. I am not usually a huge fan of solo guitar recitals, especially when it could have been so monotonously relaxing, but something new has been attempted here, and it makes me hope that Larget-Caplan looks both back and forward in time to gather up future volumes and create a Lullaby Almanac. Choose your tracks wisely, if want your child to sleep; for the rest of us, though, these make diverting nocturnal wanderings.

This article originally appeared in Issue 34:3 (Jan/Feb 2011) of Fanfare Magazine.

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NEW LULLABY • Aaron Larget-Caplan (gtr)
SIX STRING SOUND

It would be too obvious to open this review with a remark about the impossibility of staying awake listening to a CD devoted to lullabies were the lullabies any good, so I won’t. In any case, the 14 lullabies presented here are too engaging to risk sleep. Aaron Larget-Caplan began seeking lullabies from composers in 2006. A smart idea: A relatively slight form requiring not too much time from composers is likely to generate returns. And so it has. This CD presents some of the first fruits of the New Lullaby Project (newlullabyproject.com) from some 13 U.S. composers. Perhaps subsequent volumes could trawl for pieces from outside the States. Incidentally, it is interesting that most of the composers represented are men and most of them seem to have been inspired by their own small children.

In his notes, Larget-Caplan suggests that “there are two basic types of lullabies: one gives the listeners warmth and protection, while the second tends to be darker with hints of fear.” An interesting idea since I, for one, approached this CD with the assumption that it would be entirely, and deliberately, soporific. However, the permission to add darker elements has stimulated the composers to depart from this norm, greatly to the benefit of the disc. In fact, the definition of lullaby would seem to be stretched beyond even Larget-Caplan’s prescription and perhaps it would be best to think of this disc as containing a set of miniatures, largely quiet and moderate in tempo, on the subject of falling asleep rather than as enticements to do so.

At the relatively boisterous end of the spectrum are Francine Trester’s My Darling’s Slumber, which has a strong climax, and Mark Small’s ambitious Descent to a Dream. This latter documents the various stages of falling asleep, including the arrival of the dream state in which “fantastic ideas and connections that don’t go together in our waking moments seem real.” These are followed by forte strummed chords, which I fear would have woken Baby had she managed to slip into the arms of Morpheus in the first place. No matter. It is an interesting piece that gets a lot into four and a half minutes.

The more elaborate works are carefully positioned in this recital so that they counterpoint the more conventional calls to sleep. Of these, Scott Wheeler’s Nachtlied and Kevin Siegfried’s Cradle Song particularly appeal: fresh and tender songs without words. Another clever piece of programming is the way that the pieces that include harmonics gradually predominate at the end, culminating in Ryan Vigil’s Shhhh, composed entirely of harmonics.

Only Berceuse by David Vayo seems unsuccessful to me. It starts magically—with harmonics—but unfortunately soon asks the player to sing “ooos.” Then, rather like the cook who discovered that adding a little salt to the food made it taste better so he added a whole lot more, Vayo asks the player to shhhh, exhale, and whistle at length (too loud on the recording). But what is performed vocally seems too thin, too seemingly extraneous to the music, while the guitar part is reduced to a vestigial accompaniment. Definitely a case, here, where less would have been more. And the penultimate track, Song Softly Sung, in Trying Times by Eric Schwartz, comes with an inexplicably high level of hiss.

However, these are minor cavils in what is otherwise a remarkably successful, imaginative release. Aaron Larget-Caplan’s playing catches every nuance of the music, making the most of a deliberately restricted palette of colors and textures. The recorded sound of the guitar is excellent, striking a perfect balance: intimate, but giving the instrument some space so that the disc doesn’t become oppressive. – Jeremy Marchant

This article originally appeared in Issue 34:3 (Jan/Feb 2011) of Fanfare Magazine

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Upon Listening by Sherry Kloss

New Lullaby: Fourteen Enchanting Ways to Fall Asleep is an outgrowth of the New Lullaby Project, brainchild of guitarist and educator Aaron Larget-Caplan (Beta, Boston Alumni). All of the CD’s short solo pieces are newly commissioned by the artist and performed by Larget-Caplan with music insight and fluent technical aplomb. The appealing theme and some delightful surprises will attract a listening public that’s often unwilling to give new music a hearing. Short character pieces, a popular inclusion in concert programs a hundred years ago, challenge both composer and artist to convey their essence in a few brief moments. This not mere background music; rather, the soothing and provocative sounds are mood enhancing and beckon personal involvement.

Composer Lynn Job creates a wide variety of stylistic techniques in “The Sixth Night.” Chordal strumming, influence of classic flamenco style, jazz flourishes, and harmonic patterns from major to minor tonalities complement this very satisfying work. Jonathan Feist’s “Leaky Roof” contains wide rhythmic movement and harmonic interest in rock-ballad style. The ostinato bass contrasts energetically with the melody, and his use of harmonics for the concluding theme leaves us with a sense of peace. In “No Time,” Feist weaves a poignantly memorable ballad, reminiscent of the Beatles’ style of melding seemingly uncomplicated harmonies.

Similarly, the introduction of Francine Trester’s “My Darling’s Slumber” expands into a Beatlesque melody, develops with a bluesy line, and leads into interesting harmonies and phrasings. In “Nachtlied,” Scott Wheeler spins an enchanting melody with cross rhythms, punctuations of harmony, and use of rhythmic space to create silences, transporting the listener to restful peacefulness.
“Cradle Song” by Kevin Siegfried is a true lullaby. A pleasing melody creates a lulling, restful effect, and surprise modulations evoke emotional memories of different worlds. In the melodically and harmonically rich “Descent to a Dream,” Mark Small employs broken chords, arpeggiated style, and chromatic interest to create a descriptive work. Nolan Stolz’s “Lullaby for Sam” begins with a single motive and then embellishes it for interest, using portamenti to color the line. Improvisational style and ostinato bass are the first sounds we hear in Carson Cooman’s “[Unfolding the Gates of Dawn, a] morning lullaby.” Attractive use of characteristic guitar touches (strumming repeated notes, broken chords, silences, an dynamics) contribute to the effectiveness of the composition.

The sotto voce harmonics of John McDonald’s “You Are Alone to Sleep” set the melody with dissonant chordal punctuation, while in “berceuse” David Vayo produces an instant mood through human voice and whistling juxtaposed with guitar, an extremely clever listening adventure. David Leisner’s “Disturbed, A Lullaby” begins on a Low A and then follows a single 12 tone-like pattern in playful movement, creating an intricate and thought-provoking experience that finds its final resting place on High A. Eric Schwartz travels yet another area in his interesting compositional conception. “Song Softly Sung, in Trying Times” opens with the sound of the ocean, builds a beautiful theme through the harmonic circle, silence, and the ocean once more. Finally, Ryan Vigil focuses on the “other-worldly” timbre of the harmonic in “Shhhh” an innovative composition calling for scordatura tuning. — Sherry Kloss

Sherry Kloss, Epsilon Upsilon, Muncie Alumni
3510 West University Avenue, Muncie, IN 47303
Phone: 765-287-8469 email: sherkl@excite.com

New Lullaby
Job, Feist, Trester, Wheeler, Siegfried, Small, Stolz, Cooman, McDonald, Vayo, Leisner, Schwarts, Vigil
Aaron Larget-Caplan, guitar Six String Sound 888-01 – 53 minutes

Mr. Larget-Caplan directs the New Lullaby Project from his home base in Boston. Here he has collected 14 lullabies from 13 composers, most not well known (only David Leisner was familiar to me, and he as one of our finest guitarists who also composes). All the pieces were composed between 2006 and 2009. Each is well crafted, and each performance is well played and sensitive. The notes include descriptions of each piece by its composer. Larget-Caplan says in his introduction that the works are of two types, the first consoling and protective, but a second type that is quietly disturbing, as if on the edge of a sleep troubled with bad dreams. They are presented in what might be described as ascending order of weirdness. The early pieces are all fairly conventional, pretty, and soothing. Others near the end have other qualities. David Vayo’s ‘Berceuse’ is the longest piece, at seven minutes, and asks the performer to sing (or, in Larget-Caplan’s case, to moan) and whistle. His notes don’t indicate that his intent was anything other than consoling, but the effect is rather creepy.

David Leisner’s ‘Disturbed, a Lullaby’ is indeed disturbing, with a non-tonal, pointillistic texture, as if he were attempting a quiet irony. The final work, Ryan Vigil’s ‘Shhhh’, is done entirely in harmonics, with three strings tuned to alternate pitches. The work is five minutes of nearly inaudible sounds that get even softer as the piece progresses. It will come as no surprise that I don’t recommend that you hear this recording all in one sitting. Every piece is quiet (don’t wake the baby!), and that can become monotonous. Some pieces are charming, some disturbing. –Keaton

Kenneth Keaton is a professor of music at a Florida university and has earned three degrees in classical guitar performance.
American Record Guide, January/February 2011, p. 227

“Classical guitarist Aaron Larget-Caplan has embarked on an extraordinarily valuable musical endeavor by commissioning and premiering lullabies for solo guitar by living (and emerging) composers. Larget-Caplan’s concerts integrate these new works with dances and traditional repertory for the guitar in perennially effective programs.

It is rare to witness a young performer who is so unwaveringly committed to placing his full artistic weight behind new work for his instrument. At a recent performance offered to the Composition Seminar at Tufts University (a course currently supporting seventeen young composers working at a variety of undergraduate and graduate levels), Aaron Larget-Caplan presented several new lullabies (by Jacob Mashak, Nolan Stolz, Eric Schwartz, Scott Wheeler, and myself) alongside other, larger modern guitar works. His inspired programming and unique approach to each work captured the imagination of the entire group of composers. A new lullaby by nineteen-year-old Joshua Hahn has already been completed.

Having composed a lullaby for Aaron myself, I can only attest to his continuing devotion to the piece I offered him in 2007. Now that he has performed it four or five times, the subtle changes that accompany its evolution from performance to performance have made it come to life repeatedly. I am indebted to Aaron Larget-Caplan for his continuing search through the guitar, and for his abiding support of young composers through the New Lullaby Project. Larget-Caplan’s work is to be celebrated and supported in every way possible.”

- John McDonald, composer and professor Tufts University - March 19, 2009