Nikolai Kapustin - Piano Music (Steven Osborne)

Information

Composer: Nikolai Kapustin

• (01) Sonata No. 1 ('Sonata-Fantasia'), Op. 39
• (05) 24 Preludes in Jazz Style, Op. 53 (excerpts)
• (18) Sonata No. 2, Op. 54

Steven Osborne, piano
Date: 2000
Label: Hyperion
https://www.hyperion-records.co.uk/dc.asp?dc=D_CDA67159

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

Review

Engaging, often witty jazz-inspired works that are highly recommended, especially to lovers of Gershwin or Billy Mayerl

The embattled critic is, of course, generally off the hook when it comes to comparisons vis-a-vis repertoire such as this, but I do recommend this recording to devotees of Gershwin, Billy Mayerl or anyone who had the good sense to buy the two intriguing jazz/contemporary takes on Chopin by the Jagodzinski Trio and Leszek Możdżer released on Opus 111 (OPS2013 and OPS2014).

Kapustin, born in 1937, studied under Goldenweiser at the Moscow Conservatoire and subsequently divided his time between composing for the classical idiom and enjoying what seems to be a fairly high-octane career as a pianist on the Russian jazz circuit – the very existence of which may be less than obvious to many – and occasionally abroad. As Osborne’s lively and lucid booklet-notes make clear (although his bracketing jazz with ‘more popular musics’ is something of a can of worms), the musical language of jazz has informed Kapustin’s work to a considerable degree.

Over the past 20 years or so, much of the Russian jazz which has found a public elsewhere has been of the more radical kind – Ganelin, Kuryokhin, the Arkhangelsk group – but Kapustin is not of this ilk. Rather, his music is almost relentlessly agreeable, occasionally floridly sentimental but certainly engaging and often witty, with Steven Osborne picking up on the latter aspect particularly astutely. The recording quality is pleasingly spacious.

-- R. Thomas, Gramophone

More reviews:
BBC Music Magazine  PERFORMANCE: **** / SOUND: ****
http://www.musicweb-international.com/classrev/2000/july00/kapustin.htm
https://www.amazon.com/Kapustin-Piano-Music-Vol-1-Nikolai/dp/B00004TARX

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

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/

***

Steven Osborne (born 1971) is a Scottish pianist. He was taught by Richard Beauchamp at St Mary's Music School in Edinburgh before going to the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester to study under Renna Kellaway. His recording career began when he was signed to Hyperion Records in 1998, and this on-going contract has brought him two Gramophone Awards. Concerto performances take Steven Osborne to orchestras all over the world. He has returned almost annually to the BBC Prom and has also appeared both as a soloist and chamber musician at the Edinburgh Festival.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steven_Osborne_(pianist)

http://www.stevenosborne.co.uk/

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

FLAC, tracks

Links in comment

Enjoy!