Kapustin: Piano Sonatas Nos. 1 & 2; 24 Preludes in Jazz Style

Featuring

Steven Osborne
Nikolai Kapustin

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Compositional Technique

Kapustin's musical language integrates classical and jazz traditions at every level, including harmony, rhythm, melody, and structure.

Composer Biography

Before focusing on composition, Kapustin made a name for himself in Moscow as a jazz pianist, performing with his own quintet and touring internationally with Leg Lundström's Jazz Orchestra.

Compositional Technique

Kapustin's 24 Preludes in Jazz Style are influenced by Chopin in their key scheme and brevity, but they showcase a wide variety of jazz styles like blues, ballad, jazz waltz, and swing.

Composition History

Kapustin's first two piano sonatas, composed in 1984 and 1989, appeared surprisingly late in his career, after he had already written four piano concertos and fifty other works.

Interpretation

In some of his preludes, Kapustin notates 'improvised' music, raising the question of how to perform these passages with the intended spontaneity.

Composer's Artistic Vision

Kapustin's music is a unique blend of classical forms and jazz idiom, where the influence of jazz is so significant that his music is "unthinkable without it."