Nikolai Kapustin

Nikolai Girschewitsch Kapustin ( Russian: Николай Гиршевич Капустин ; born November 22, 1937 in Gorlowka , Ukrainian SSR , today Horlivka , Ukraine ; † July 2, 2020 in Moscow ) was a Ukrainian composer and pianist .

Life

Nikolai Kapustin studied piano with Aurelian Grigorjewitsch Rubbach ( Аврелиан Григорьевич Руббах ; 1895–1975), a student of Felix Blumenfeld , who also taught Simon Barere and Vladimir Horowitz , and later with Alexander Goldenweiser at the Moscow Conservatory , where he graduated in 1961.

As early as the late 1950s he made a name for himself as an excellent jazz pianist, arranger and composer. For a time he had his own quintet and was also a member of Yuri Saulski's big band in Moscow . He had his first breakthrough as a composer in 1957 when he performed his Concertino for piano and orchestra op. 1 with the VI. World Festival of Youth and Students premiered in Moscow. From 1961 to 1972 he worked with Oleg Lundstrem's orchestra and made numerous tours of the Soviet Union. Some of Kapustin's larger works were also created for Lundstrems Bigband.

In 1972 Kapustin got a job as a pianist in the renowned Moscow Radio Orchestra , which was then directed by the important conductor Gennady Roshdjestwensky , who made it possible for works by Carl Orff , Paul Hindemith , Béla Bartók and Maurice Ravel to be performed for the first time in the Soviet Union . In 1972 Kapustin was still composing the Piano Concerto No. 2, Op. 14, in his new position , which, in addition to the classical instrumentation, also uses a big band in the orchestra, which was also available to him on the Moscow Radio. With this work he was also accepted into the Soviet Union of Composers, which was equivalent to an official recognition of his work by the state.

When Roshdjestvensky gave up his Moscow conductor's office in 1975 in order to work more abroad in the future, Kapustin's situation deteriorated significantly: In contrast to the Piano Concerto No. 2, Op. 14, which was lavishly produced by Moscow Radio - with Kapustin as the soloist, none was produced of his following works for piano and orchestra. Some of these works were only played for the first time in 2016, such as the Nocturne for piano and orchestra, Op. 16 and the Piano Concerto No. 3, Op. 48.

Kapustin lived in Moscow since his student days. He died in early July 2020 at the age of 82. The physicist Anton Kapustin , who teaches in the USA , is his son.

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In his compositions he combined different influences by bringing jazz expressions into formal classical structures. A special example is his Suite in the Old Style op. 28 (1977), which belongs to the sound world of jazz improvisation , but is also based on the principles of baroque suites, such as the partitas for piano by Johann Sebastian Bach . Another example are his 24 Preludes and Fugues, Op. 82, written in 1997, and the Sonatina, Op. 100.

Kapustin saw himself more as a composer than a jazz musician. He said, “I've never been a jazz musician. I've never tried to be a true jazz pianist, but I had to be for the sake of composing. I'm not interested in improvisation - and what would a jazz musician be without improvisation? All improvisation on my part is of course written down and it has become much better because of it; it let them mature. "

His work includes 20 piano sonatas, 6 piano concertos, other instrumental concerts, collections of piano variations, etudes and concert studies.

Interpretations

For a long time Kapustin's work was hardly known even in his homeland. One of the few who knew and valued it was Nikolai Petrow , who also recorded a work by Kapustin for the record. He only became internationally known when the pianist Steven Osborne released a CD with works by Kapustin in 2000, which was awarded the German Record Critics' Prize. Thereupon other pianists also took his sometimes extremely virtuoso works into their repertoire and distributed them on CDs. Mention should be made of John Salmon , Marc-André Hamelin , Konstantin Semilakovs , Myron Romanul , Christopher Park , the blind Japanese pianist Nobuyuki Tsujii , the Korean pianist Sukyeon Kim and the Chinese pianists Shan-shan Sun and Yuja Wang . Kapustin himself recorded some of his piano works for the record.

Compositions (selection)

Piano works

• op. 28: Suite in the Old Style (1977)
• op. 36: Toccatina (1983)
• op. 40: Eight Concert Etudes (1984)
  • No. 1: Prelude in C major
  • No. 2: Reverie in A flat major
  • No. 3: Toccatina in E minor
  • No. 4: Remembrance in B major
  • No. 5: Rallery in D major
  • No. 6: Pastoral in B flat major
  • No. 7: Intermezzo D flat major
  • No. 8: Finale in F minor
• op.41: Variations (1984)
• op. 53: 24 Preludes in jazz style
• op. 59: 10 Bagatelles (1991)
• op. 66: 3 Impromptus (1991)
• op. 67: Three Etudes
• op.82: 24 Preludes and Fugues (1997) - Mainz: Schott, 2014
• op. 100: Sonatina

Piano sonatas

• Sonata No. 1, op.39: Sonata-Fantasy
• Sonata No. 2, op.54
• Sonata No. 3, op.55
• Sonata No. 4, op.60
• Sonata No. 5, op.61
• Sonata No. 6, op.62
• Sonata No. 7, op.64
• Sonata No. 8, op.77
• Sonata No. 9, op.78
• Sonata No. 10, op.81
• Sonata No. 11, op.101
• Sonata No. 12, op.102
• Sonata No. 13, op.110
• Sonata No. 14, op.120
• Sonata No. 15, op.127
• Sonata No. 16, op.131
• Sonata No. 17, op.134
• Sonata No. 18, op.135
• Sonata No. 19, op.143
• Sonata No. 20, op.144

Violoncello and piano

• op. 96: Elegy (1999)
• op.97: Burlesque (1999)
• op. 98: Nearly Waltz (1999)
• op.63: Sonata for violoncello and piano No. 1
• op.84: Sonata for violoncello and piano No. 2

Piano and orchestra

• op. 1: Concertino for piano and orchestra (1957)
• op. 2: Piano Concerto No. 1 (1961)
• op. 3: Variations for piano and big band (1961)
• op.8: Toccata for piano and big band (1964)
• op. 14: Piano Concerto No. 2 (1972) - public premiere 1980 in Moscow, Nikolai Kapustin (piano), Boris Karamyshev Orchestra
• op. 16: Nocturne in G major for piano and orchestra (1972) - World premiere on November 21, 2016 in Moscow, A Bu (piano), Moscow Jazz Orchestra, conducted by Igor Butman
• op.19: Etude for piano and orchestra (1974)
• op.20: Nocturne for piano and orchestra (1974)
• op.25: Concert Rhapsody for piano and orchestra (1976)
• op.29: Scherzo for piano and orchestra (1976)
• op.33: piece for two pianos and orchestra (1982)
• op. 48: Piano Concerto No. 3 (1985) - world premiere on November 6, 2016 in Tokyo, Masahiro Kawakami (piano), Orchestra of the Tokyo College of Music, Daisuke Soga (conductor)
• Op. 56: Piano Concerto No. 4 , in one movement (1990) - world premiere in 2011, Ludmil Angelov (piano), Spanish Chamber Orchestra
• op.72: Piano Concerto No. 5 (1993)
• op.74: Piano Concerto No. 6 (1993)
• op.104: Concerto for two pianos and percussion (2002)
• op.147: Piano Concerto No. 1 (revised version, 2012)

literature

• Martin Anderson, Interview with Kapustin , in: Fanfare , September / October 2000 ( online )
• Alla Vladimirovna Grigor′yeva:  Kapustin, Nikolay Girshevich. In: Grove Music Online (English; subscription required).
• Harriet Smith, Interview with Kapustin , in: International Piano Quarterly , Autumn 2000 ( online )
• Yana Tyulkova, Conversations with Nikolai Kapustin , Mainz: Schott 2019; ISBN 978-3-95983-590-9

Web links

• Personal website
• Works by and about Nikolai Kapustin in the catalog of the German National Library
• Nikolai Kapustin, Toccata op.8, played by the composer and the Oleg Lundstrem Big Band (1964)
• Nikolai Kapustin, Etude op. 40, played by Konstantin Semilakov

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Death report , accessed on July 4, 2020
2. ↑ Nikolai Kapustin died in: orpheusradio (Russian), accessed on July 4, 2020
3. ↑ ... from the collection of Mark Pekarsky ... (Russian)
4. ↑ Tyulkova (2019), pp. 215f.