Drifting

This guitarist serves on the faculty of the University of Massachusetts Boston. Here he continues his foray into the world of nighttime and sleep with the third disc in his “New Lullaby Project” series. To him, the term “lullaby” has a larger intent than music designed to help a child go to sleep; Caplan looks for ways that contemporary composers use the guitar to portray all things nocturnal. The program opens with ‘The Sleeping Guitar’ by New England guitarist and composer Tim Pence. This is a lovely, tonal work that is a bit unusual for this series of contemporary compositions, but very welcome. Larget-Caplan plays this with unhurried spaciousness.’Counting Backwards’ by Anthony R Green is written with the idea in mind of having an insomniac child count backwards from a very large number, and the music reflects that mental challenge. Particularly atmospheric are Ian Wiese’s ‘Seeketh Not Its Own’ and Scott Scharf’s ‘Lullaby For Letting the Day Be What It Is’ deriving musical meaning from the guitar’s gentle, unhurried sustained notes using pure-toned, soothing harmonics.  (American Record Guide)