Nikolai Kapustin had no access to jazz during his childhood in Soviet Ukraine, as it was proscribed as "anti-Soviet capitalist culture" and instruments like the saxophone were forbidden.
Composer Biography
Kapustin first encountered jazz through radio broadcasts after Stalin's death in 1953, and he developed a facility for precise notation by taping and transcribing these broadcasts.
Composition History
Nikolai Kapustin has composed more works for cello than for any other instrument besides piano, with his first Cello Sonata (Op.63) appearing in 1991.
Performer Biography
Duo Perfetto, consisting of pianist Clorinda Perfetto and cellist Robert Witt, has won several international competitions, including first prize at the 2016 TIM (Torneo Internazionale di Musica).
Composer's Artistic Vision
Nikolai Kapustin's music combines classical formality with jazz idiom, but he considers the classical part more important, using jazz for "colour" rather than "forms."
Composition History
The cellist Alexander Zagorinsky inspired Kapustin to compose many cello works, including the Cello Sonata No.2 (Op.84), after they collaborated on the premiere of the first Cello Sonata.
Composer's Artistic Vision
Nikolai Kapustin meticulously notates his compositions, including passages that sound improvisatory, because he believes improvisation "is not perfect" and structure is more important.
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British Cello Works, Vol. 3: Hurlstone Cello Sonata, III. Scherzo
Cassadó: Sonata for Cello and Piano in A Minor: II. Aragonesa
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Sonatas for Cello and Piano
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Myaskovsky: Cello Sonatas
Shostakovich & Rachmaninoff: Sonatas for Cello & Piano
Shostakovich / Prokofiev: Cello Sonatas
Shostakovich: Cello Sonata in D Minor, Op. 40 - Schubert: Arpeggione Sonata in A Minor, D. 821
