Nikolai Kapustin - Piano Music (Marc-André Hamelin)

Information

Composer: Nikolai Kapustin

• (01) Variations, Op. 41
• (02) Eight Concert Études, Op. 40
• (10) Bagatelle, Op. 59 No. 9
• (11) Suite in the Old Style, Op. 28
• (16) Piano Sonata No. 6, Op. 62
• (19) Sonatina, Op. 100
• (20) Five Études in Different Intervals, Op. 68

Marc-André Hamelin, piano
Date: 2004
Label: Hyperion
https://www.hyperion-records.co.uk/dc.asp?dc=D_CDA67433

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Review

Nonchalant aplomb and magical dexterity, as you would expect, from Hamelin

With typical generosity and enterprise Hyperion follows its earlier Nikolai Kapustin disc by Steven Osborne (8/00) with one from Marc-André Hamelin (not forgetting Hamelin’s performance of the Op 36 Toccatina included on his ‘Kaleidoscope’ album – 12/01). As Osborne reminded us, ‘crossover’ is an old rather than recent tradition, whether the jazz elements are peripheral as in Ravel or central as in Kapustin. Jed Distler, writing for Hamelin’s disc in a style as witty and engaging as the music itself, speaks of a Chick Corea-based language that lifts a romantic virtuoso tradition into a beguiling quasi-improvisational style and holds it up to a fun-house mirror.

Such high-pitched claims arguably fail to account for too many family likenesses (be they variations, studies or sonatas) or a style that too often suggests composition as a facile rather than arduous process (like Saint-Saëns, Kapustin ‘produces music as an apple-tree produces apples’). Nonetheless, there are many scintillating surprises. The Variations’ gawky theme blossoms into the sort of elaboration that would have made Bill Evans envious, while the second of the Op 40 Etudes ends with a passing memory of Liszt’s Au bord d’une Source, reminding you of Kapustin’s work as a virtuoso pianist with Alexander Goldenweiser. No 6, Pastoral, a dream encore, sends a tiny cell-like motif spinning through a variety of guises.

The Bagatelle’s perky tune would not be out of place ‘in a Brazilian Chorino’ (Distler) and everything on this remarkable disc is played with a nonchalant aplomb and magical dexterity hard to imagine from any other pianist. Hamelin, whom I once heard devoting the whole of the second half of a recital in America to Kapustin, is in his element, and he has been immaculately recorded.

-- Bryce Morrison, Gramophone

More reviews:
ClassicsToday  ARTISTIC QUALITY: 10 / SOUND QUALITY: 10
https://www.allmusic.com/album/nikolai-kapustin-piano-music-mw0001855680
https://www.amazon.com/Nikolai-Kapustin-Piano-Marc-Andre-Hamelin/dp/B00026W640

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Nikolai Kapustin (born November 22, 1937 in Horlivka, Ukrainian SSR) is a Russian composer and pianist. Kapustin studied piano with Avrelian Rubakh (pupil of Felix Blumenfeld who also taught Simon Barere and Vladimir Horowitz) and subsequently with Alexander Goldenweiser at the Moscow Conservatory. Kapustin is steeped in both the traditions of classical virtuoso pianism and improvisational jazz. He fuses these influences in his compositions, using jazz idioms in formal classical structures. Among his works are 20 piano sonatas, 6 piano concerti, sets of piano variations, études and concert studies.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nikolai_Kapustin
https://www.nikolai-kapustin.info/

***

Marc-André Hamelin (born September 5, 1961 in Montreal, Quebec) is a Canadian virtuoso pianist and composer. Hamelin is recognized worldwide for the originality and technical brilliance of his performances of the classic repertoire. He has made recordings of a wide variety of composers with the Hyperion label. He is well known for his attention to lesser-known composers especially of the late nineteenth and early twentieth century and for performing works by pianist-composers. Hamelin has also composed several works, including a set of piano études in all of the minor keys.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marc-Andr%C3%A9_Hamelin

http://www.marcandrehamelin.com/

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

FLAC, tracks

Links in comment

Enjoy!