Nikolai Kapustin
Nikolai Kapustin [Николай Капустин] (born
1937 in
Gorlovka,
Ukraine) 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, later,
Alexander Goldenweiser at the
Moscow Conservatory. During the 1950s he acquired a reputation as a
jazz pianist, arranger and composer. He is steeped, therefore, 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. A striking example of this is his
Suite in the Old Style op. 28, written in 1977, which inhabits the sound world of jazz improvisation but is modelled on baroque suites such as the keyboard partitas composed by
J. S. Bach, each movement being a stylised dance (or sometimes a pair of dances) in strict
binary form. Another example of this fusion is his set of
24 Preludes and Fugues op. 82 written in 1997.
Kapustin views himself as a composer rather than a jazz musician. He has said, "I was never a jazz musician. I never tried to be a real jazz pianist, but I had to do it because of the composing. I'm not interested in improvisation " and what is a jazz musician without improvisation? All my improvisation is written, of course, and they became much better; it improved them." (Anderson, 2000)
Among his works are 14
piano sonatas, six
piano concerti, other instrumental concerti, sets of piano
variations,
etudes and concert studies.
His music has recently been championed by a number of prominent western pianists, perhaps most notably
Steven Osborne and
Marc-André Hamelin.
*
Hyperion Records: Nikolai Kapustin*
Nikolai Kapustin, compiled by Onno van Rijen*
NikolaiKapustin.net
