The Russian composer and pianist Nikolai Kapustin [Капустин] (born 1937 in Gorlovka, Ukraine) studied piano with Avrelian Rubakh (pupil of Felix Blumenfeld who also taught Simon Barere and Vladimir Horowitz) and, later, Alexander Goldenweiser at the Moscow Conservatoire. 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. Ukraine (Україна, Ukrayina in Ukrainian; Украина in Russian) is a republic in eastern Europe which borders Russia to the east, Belarus to the north, Poland, Slovakia and Hungary to the west, Romania and Moldova to the southwest and the Black Sea to the south. ... Simon Barere (1896-1951) was an American pianist. ... Vladimir Horowitz (ru: Владимир Самойлович Горовиц) (October 1, 1903 (or 1904)–November 5, 1989) was a classical pianist. ... Jazz is a musical art form characterized by blue notes, syncopation, swing, call and response, polyrhythms, and improvisation. ... A virtuoso is a musician who has attained the highest level of skill in a fine art, especially at playing a specific instrument or singing. ... This article deals with those who play the piano. ... Improvisation is the act of making something up as you go along. ...

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. Johann Sebastian Bach, 1748 portrait by Elias Gottlob Haussmann Johann Sebastian Bach (March 21, 1685[1] (O.S.) – July 28, 1750[2] (N.S.)) was a German composer and organist of the Baroque period, and is universally regarded as one of the greatest composers of all time. ... Binary form is a way of structuring a piece of music. ...

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 concertos, other instrumental concertos, sets of piano variations, etudes and concert studies. A piano sonata is a sonata written for unaccompanied piano. ... A piano concerto is a concerto for solo piano and orchestra. ... In music, variation is a formal technique where material is altered during repetition; reiteration with changes. ... An etude (from the French word étude meaning study) is a short musical composition designed to provide practice in a particular technical skill in the performance of a solo instrument. ...

His music has recently been championed by a number of prominent western pianists, perhaps most notably Stephen Osborne and Marc-André Hamelin.

External links

• Hyperion Records: Nikolai Kapustin (http://www.hyperion-records.co.uk/composer_page.asp?name=kapustin)
• Nikolai Kapustin, compiled by Onno van Rijen (http://home.wanadoo.nl/ovar/kapustin.htm)

References

Martin Anderson (2000) "Nikolai Kapustin, Russian composer of classical jazz". Fanfare Sept/Oct 2000, 93–97.