Kapustin: Piano Music [Import]

Nikolai Kapustin (Composer), Steven Osborne (Performer) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Performer: Steven Osborne
• Composer: Nikolai Kapustin
• Audio CD (June 13, 2000)
• SPARS Code: DDD
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Import
• Label: Hyperion UK
• ASIN: B00004TARX
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #169,632 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Editorial Reviews

No Description Available.
Genre: Classical Music
Media Format: Compact Disk
Rating:
Release Date: 13-JUN-2000

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Don't pass this one by!, June 22, 2000

By 

Yul S. Pariah (Baltimore, Maryland USA) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Kapustin: Piano Music (Audio CD)

The name Nikolai Kapustin will probably leave all but a very few people scratching their heads. Born in 1937, Kapustin is very much alive, a wonderfully prolific and active composer, and a virtuoso pianist of the highest caliber. He studied piano at the Moscow Conservatory with Alexander Goldenweiser, and is in possession of a world-class technique (I have been extremely fortunate to hear recordings of Kapustin performing his own music). Since his earliest student days as a composer/pianist, he has embraced the jazz idiom, with remarkable freshness and seemingly endless inspiration. Make no mistake though, this is not classical/jazz "cross-over", nor classical music with a whiff of jazz, but more the other way around. It is much closer to true jazz improvisation, meticulously written out, and in the right hands, capable of sounding incredibly free and spontaneous. And yet, Kapustin writes his style of music within established classical forms, like sonatas for example, of which he has written ten thus far, with hopefully more to come. I haven't heard anything quite like it. In that sense, his music is original in its own way, while at the same time clearly descended from two very established musical styles. The few people I know, all classical musicians, who have encountered Kapustin's music have had immediate and overwhelmingly favorable responses to it, myself included. I would think only the most staunchly conservative guardians of old-world western classical music traditions, or hardened jazz-haters would not love this man's music. There are very few pianists performing Kapustin's piano music in the world today, mostly because of extremely hard to find scores, and thus a general ignorance of his existence. My introduction to Kapustin's music was the pianist Marc-Andre Hamelin, who has been programming Kapustin's Piano Sonata #2 on many of his recitals world-wide in recent times. Anyone who has heard Hamelin play Kapustin will not soon forget it, and I had sincerely hoped the he would make the first all-Kapustin CD. Nevertheless, as I listen to Steven Osbourne's playing on this disc, I find it nearly impossible to find fault with his playing in any way. At age 29, he is brimming with youthful vigor, and is totally at home in the jazz idiom. He has technique to burn, and exactly the right balance of rhythmic snap, clarity, and spontaneity to make these works jump off the page and out of your speakers. In the gentler moments, of which there are many, he conjures up a wonderful velvety, smoky, nocturnal mood that feels exactly right, not the least bit overdone or contrived. I wouldn't be a bit surprised if Osbourne was a skilled improviser when not playing other people's music. In the Piano Sonata #2, Osbourne does not quite match Hamelin's fire, intensity, or overwhelming virtuosity in the "live" performances of this work I have heard, but he is quite rewarding in other ways. His slightly slower tempi in the fast movements and mellower approach allow the listener to be truly seduced by the music rather than being blown away by it, though frankly, I can be happy with either approach. If any of this sounds even halfway interesting to you, don't hesitate on this one. Buy it now, and thank me later. You'll be begging for more Kapustin before long.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars I agree-A Fantastic Disc!!!, July 22, 2000

By 

Darin Tysdal (Bloomington, MN 55420) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Kapustin: Piano Music (Audio CD)

Like one Mr. Yarish, I plus an internet friend heard Marc-Andre Hamelin play a couple of Kapustin's pieces as encores on a piano recital and the audience was floored by Kapustin's music. Therefore,this CD is very welcome for us who want to hear more of his music. I would go as far to say that Kapustin mostly reminds me of the piano music of Gershwin, and since he died in 1937, this composer gives us an idea about how Gershwin would have continued had he lived on. We hardly get to hear jazz through a Russian composer's eyes (although Shchedrin's Piano Concerto No.2 has such moments) and I have to admit that he can swing, although this music is mostly written down. Apparently there is improv involved, but we do not know what is written or improvised unless we can see scores, which are hard to come by. If you need a pick-me up or like the piano music of Billy Mayerl, George Gershwin, Elie Siegmeister, Morton Gould or William Bolcom you will enjoy this one!! Sourpusses should stay away!!!

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars wonderful ,self-contained music inhabiting its own place, October 30, 2000

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scarecrow "scarecrow" (Chicago, Illinois United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Kapustin: Piano Music (Audio CD)

Kapustin's piano music is not really jazz nor does it inhabit the serious classical genre,yet he taps a vein that easily utilizes in a very profound way both those worlds. I'm wondering what moments here are improvised. I was told there is a Kapustin Soceity where this music can be obtained. That will clarify where the performer's world begins. Osborne here simply plays the hell out of these pieces,he has a restrained discipline which the music needs,yet is never afraid of the forbidden density the music develops. The music is dense with a profound sense of the piano's unique timbre, broken octaves and chords, their voicings is exquisite,thunderous like basso accompaniment,which you actually hear,not simply opaque textures we usually find in the freak storms the free jazz cadres often display.The entire coloristic world of the piano is summoned by Kapustin, with a Sorabji-like density in every register,sometimes I felt as an after thought or a way of completing a musical idea,simply ascend,that will erase the idea,ready now for new content. And this music seems to be self-contained,it doesn't need a drum unit, it works very well away from other timbres,inhabiting its own voice, a remarkable aesthetic feature.

The Preludes here are more etudes,but many are deeply profound and sometimes the obvious jazz language is introduced,walking bass lines, and Weill-like dark harmonies to scour.