Discography
oboist Stephen Caplan engages in intricate call-and-response with a chorus of chirping frogs–The New York Times
Complete command of the instrument…sublime–Fanfare
Striking project…highly gifted oboist–Music and Vision
Wonderful solo release…a must-have–Las Vegas Life
All oboe aficionados will want this disc–Classical Music on the Web
A Tree in Your Ear celebrates landscapes. Landscapes remembered by sounds (the frogs, crickets, and coyotes of Half Moon at Checkerboard Mesa), landscapes heard in songs (the folk music orchestrated by William Grant Still in Miniatures), landscapes felt (Koke No Niwa and Saltwater Blues), and landscapes imagined (Orpheus Singing and Sonic Landscapes). These landscapes are as distinct as the musical styles that evoke them. This is “art music,” yet each selection ignores boundaries, borrowing liberally from either popular or folk musical idioms.
The oboe, a musical instrument made from the mpingo tree, is best known in its symphonic role. But some composers have envisioned the oboe howling with coyotes, rappin’ with Diz and Bird, or singing the blues.
National Public Radio’s All Things Considered featured me playing oboe with frogs, CHECK IT OUT
More Recordings Featuring Stephen Caplan
(you can hear sound clips from most of these recordings by clicking the link)
oboeEMOTIONS thanks to support from the Nevada Arts Council, the National Endowment for the Arts and Buffet-Crampon, I am releasing a series of video performances of American music for oboe. All are available free on YouTube. Thus far I have recorded works by Daron Hagen, Philip Orem, Leon Stein, David Ward-Steinman, and Cynthia Wong.
Jean Francaix L’Horloge de Flore (The Flower Clock) with the UNLV Wind Orchestra in an arrangement by Kenneth Watson. Fanfare magazine writes: “Not only is oboist Stephen Caplan a thoroughly expert and enjoyable soloist, but the transparency of the transcription by Ken Watson affords a rare opportunity to hear post-Mozart winds play like chamber musicians in a divertimento.”
A Box of Views the Sierra Winds’ first recording premiered works by Pulitzer Prize winner Mel Powell, Barney Childs, William Albright, as well as a wind quintet by Alvin Etler.
Another View Gunther Schuller’s Suite, Elliott Carter’s Eight Etudes and a Fantasy, Walter Piston’s Quintet and David Diamond’s Trio for oboe, bassoon and piano in critically acclaimed performances by the Sierra Winds. This recording was supported by the National Endowment for the Arts.
Gems of the Concert Band for a couple of years I played principal oboe in the Detroit Concert Band with legendary conductor Leonard Smith. I play on about a third of the recordings in this five disc set.
Get on Board the woodwind chamber music of William Grant Still. Produced with the assistance of Still’s daughter, Judith Anne Still, Get on Board features many previously unrecorded and unpublished works. This recording is regularly heard on public radio stations throughout the world.
The Land Where Dreams are Made children’s poems with music, including a rousing oboe cabaret tune on The Owl and the Pussycat. Narrations by Keith Carradine, John Carradine, and Loretta Swit.
Larkin Gifford’s Harmonica electro-acoustic music by Phillip Kent Bimstein. Sierra Winds performs Casino, the oboe is featured on Half Moon at Checkerboard Mesa.
Orpheus Singing works by Virko Baley, includes the premier recording of Orpheus Singing in a version for oboe and string quartet.
Shalom Yeladim my big sister Judy is internationally recognized for her recordings of Jewish children’s music. I also perform on her recordings Chanukah Favorites and my favorite, Boker Tov Laila Tov.
Shared Spaces music for winds with percussion. Sierra Winds premieres Divertimento by Verne Reynolds.
50 Years of Michel Legrand a concert recorded at the MGM Grand Arena in Las Vegas, featuring performances of Michel Legrand’s legendary music by George Benson, Melissa Manchester, Dionne Warwick, Andy Williams and many others.
Dark Wind bassoonist Janis McKay presents a diverse collection of contemporary works for bassoon, including two with wind quintet: Don Hannah’s Instrumentos de Madera and Phillip Bimstein’s Dark Winds Rising.
