![Nikolai Kapustin](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/37/Nikolai_Kapustin.jpg)
Nikolai Girshevich Kapustin (russian: link=no, Никола́й Ги́ршевич Капу́стин ; 22 November 19372 July 2020) was a Soviet
composer and pianist of Russian-Jewish descent.
He played with early Soviet jazz bands such as the
Oleg Lundstrem Orchestra. In
his compositions, mostly for piano, he used a fusion of jazz and classical forms. He and other pianists recorded his works.
Early life
Kapustin was born in
Horlivka
Horlivka ( , ; uk, Го́рлівка ), or Gorlovka (russian: link=no, Горловка ), is a city of regional significance in Donetsk Oblast, Ukraine.
In 2001, the city's population was 292,000, and it was estimated as Economic activi ...
,
Ukraine
Ukraine ( uk, Україна, Ukraïna, ) is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the second-largest European country after Russia, which it borders to the east and northeast. Ukraine covers approximately . Prior to the ongoing Russian inv ...
.
When he was age four, with his father fighting in World War II, his mother and grandmother moved with him and his sister to the Kyrgyz city of
Tokmak Tokmak may refer to one of the following:
* Tokmak, Ukraine, a city in Zaporizhzhia Oblast, Ukraine
*Tokmak, Uzbekistan, a city in Uzbekistan
*Tokmok, a city in Kyrgyzstan, often also spelt Tokmak
*Molochna
The Molochna (, russian: Моло́чн ...
.
He composed his first piano sonata at age 13.
From age 14, Kapustin studied piano with Avrelian Rubakh
(a pupil of
Felix Blumenfeld
Felix Mikhailovich Blumenfeld (russian: Фе́ликс Миха́йлович Блуменфе́льд; – 21 January 1931) was a Russian and Soviet composer, conductor of the Imperial Opera St-Petersburg, pianist, and teacher.
He was bor ...
, who also taught
Simon Barere and
Vladimir Horowitz
Vladimir Samoylovich Horowitz; yi, וולאַדימיר סאַמוילאָוויטש האָראָוויץ, group=n (November 5, 1989)Schonberg, 1992 was a Russian-born American classical pianist. Considered one of the greatest pianists of all ...
). Beginning in 1954, he discovered
jazz
Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a major ...
. His teacher supported his interest.
Kapustin studied from 1956 with
Alexander Goldenweiser at the
Moscow Conservatory
The Moscow Conservatory, also officially Moscow State Tchaikovsky Conservatory (russian: Московская государственная консерватория им. П. И. Чайковского, link=no) is a musical educational inst ...
, graduating in 1961.
He included
Sergei Prokofiev
Sergei Sergeyevich Prokofiev; alternative transliterations of his name include ''Sergey'' or ''Serge'', and ''Prokofief'', ''Prokofieff'', or ''Prokofyev''., group=n (27 April .S. 15 April1891 – 5 March 1953) was a Russian composer, p ...
's
Piano Concerto No. 2 in his graduation recital.
Career
During the
1950s, Kapustin acquired a reputation as a jazz pianist, arranger and composer. He had his own quintet, which performed at an "upscale restaurant" monthly.
He played as a member of
Yury Saulsky
Yury Sergeevitch Saulsky (russian: Юрий Серге́евич Саульский) was a Soviet and Russian composer, author
An author is the writer of a book, article, play, mostly written work. A broader definition of the word "author" sta ...
's big band and later in the
Oleg Lundstrem Orchestra.
In his compositions, he fused the traditions of both classical piano repertoire and
improvisation
Improvisation is the activity of making or doing something not planned beforehand, using whatever can be found. Improvisation in the performing arts is a very spontaneous performance without specific or scripted preparation. The skills of impr ...
al jazz, combining jazz idioms and classical music structures.
His ''Suite in the Old Style'',
Op. 28, written in 1977, sounds like jazz improvisation but is modeled after Baroque
suites such as
Johann Sebastian Bach
Johann Sebastian Bach (28 July 1750) was a German composer and musician of the late Baroque period. He is known for his orchestral music such as the '' Brandenburg Concertos''; instrumental compositions such as the Cello Suites; keyboard w ...
's
keyboard partitas. Other examples of his fusion music are ''24 Preludes in Jazz Style'', Op. 53,
''24 Preludes and Fugues'', Op. 82, written in 1997, and the Sonatina, Op. 100.
Kapustin regarded himself as a composer rather than a jazz musician: "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 improvisations are written, of course, and they became much better; it improved them."
Among his works are 20
piano sonata
A piano sonata is a sonata written for a solo piano. Piano sonatas are usually written in three or four movements, although some piano sonatas have been written with a single movement ( Scarlatti, Liszt, Scriabin, Medtner, Berg), others with ...
s, six
piano concertos, other instrumental concertos, sets of piano
variations
Variation or Variations may refer to:
Science and mathematics
* Variation (astronomy), any perturbation of the mean motion or orbit of a planet or satellite, particularly of the moon
* Genetic variation, the difference in DNA among individua ...
,
étude
An étude (; ) or study is an instrumental musical composition, usually short, designed to provide practice material for perfecting a particular musical skill. The tradition of writing études emerged in the early 19th century with the rapid ...
s and concert studies.
Record labels have released several recordings of the composer performing his own music.
His music has been played by leading pianists including Ludmil Angelov,
Marc-André Hamelin
Marc-André Hamelin, OC, CQ (born September 5, 1961), is a Canadian virtuoso pianist and composer. Hamelin is recognized worldwide for the originality and technical proficiency of his performances of the classic repertoire. He has received 11 Gr ...
, Masahiro Kawakami, Thomas Ang,
Nikolai Petrov,
Steven Osborne,
Yeol Eum Son
Yeol Eum Son (born May 2, 1986, in Wonju, South Korea) is a South Korean classical pianist. She first drew international attention in October 2004 at age 18 when she appeared as a soloist performing Liszt Piano Concerto No. 1 with the New Yor ...
and
Vadim Rudenko
Vadim Rudenko (born December 8, 1967, in Krasnodar) is a Russian pianist.
While still a student at the Moscow Conservatory, he was a finalist at the XII Queen Elisabeth Competition and the XII Paloma O'Shea Competition in 1992. After graduating ...
, and by cellists such as and .
Personal life
Kapustin had two sons, one of whom is
Anton Kapustin
Anton Nikolayevich Kapustin (born November 10, 1971, Moscow) is a Russian-American theoretical physicist and the Earle C. Anthony Professor of Theoretical Physics at the California Institute of Technology. His interests lie in quantum field th ...
, a theoretical physicist.
Death
Kapustin died on July 2, 2020, in Moscow. He was 82 years old.
Nikolai Kapustin
Official website
References
External links
Schott Music
the official publisher of music of Nikolai Kapustin
*
*
* Yana Tyulkova
Nikolai Kapustin
(monograph) weiterlesen.de
* Onno van Rijen
July 2014 (archived)
Sheet music by composer: Nikolai Kapustin
tutti.co.uk
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kapustin, Nikolai
1937 births
2020 deaths
20th-century classical composers
20th-century classical pianists
20th-century Russian male musicians
21st-century classical composers
21st-century classical pianists
21st-century Russian male musicians
Jazz-influenced classical composers
Male classical pianists
Russian classical composers
Russian male classical composers
Russian classical pianists
Soviet composers
Soviet male composers
Soviet classical pianists
Ukrainian classical composers
Ukrainian classical pianists
People from Horlivka