When the music of Nikolai Kapustin was discovered by a wider audience in the West, it was positively shocking: Who was this Soviet (!) composer, whose music sounded more like an Oscar Peterson improvisation than anything else – but who wrote detailed scores, black with notes?! As we discover more and more of his music (and there’s so much more yet to discover!), a very distinct, always wholly charming voice emerges, whether in a freewheeling outright-jazzy work like his Concerto for 2 Pianos and Percussion, the more symphonic Fifth Piano Concerto, or the frisky Sinfonietta which transports us into a smoky 1940s bar in Manhattan.

REVIEWS:

Pianist Frank Dupree, with his stupendous pianistic bravura, his glowing personal commitment, and ultimately his standard-setting recordings, allows us to understand Kapustin's genius in all its stylistic range.

The Fifth Piano Concerto Op. 72, written in 1993 for the pianist Nikolai Petrov, is characterized by incredible virtuosity. The stylistic parallels to the US music tradition and in particular to George Gershwin, are emphasized again and again.

Second on the album is a later work by the composer, namely the Concerto for 2 Pianos and Percussion Op. 104 from 2002. Is it presumptuous to interpret this glittering, entertaining, exuberantly celebrating life and yet formally quite concise piece as a hymn to freedom. From a purely musical point of view, a real event can be reported: Frank Dupree and the equally young Adrian Brendle form Kapustin's exuberant concert session in swirling concordance with the percussionists Meinhard 'Obi' Jenne and Franz Bach under the musical direction of Dominik Beykirch and the stylish Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra to an impasto big band sound full of wispy shooting star sounds.

The album concludes with the Sinfonietta for Piano Four Hands Op. 49 with the movements Overture, Allegro; Slow Waltz, Larghetto; Intermezzo, Allegretto and Rondo, Presto. Commissioned by the Soviet Ministry of Culture in 1987, the “little symphony” was first set for an orchestral version, and is performed here in an arrangement by the composer for piano four hands. The two mood cannons Dupree and Brendle swept across the keyboard like a roaring whirlwind, doing bella figura in the languid three-four bar slow waltz, before escorting us out of the album into the silence with intricate rhythms and a furious finale.

-- Merker Online (Germany)

Kapustin uses jazz as his musical language and then composes quasi-improvisations that sound as though they flowed right from Oscar Peterson’s or Erroll Garner’s fingers. He is one of the few who were able to have the structures of composition and liberty of improvisation come together to such an organic whole. After his first successful release with the piano- and double concerto of Russian composer Nikolai Kapustin, Frank Dupree presents the original jazzy solo piano pieces of the still mostly unknown master, enlarged with bass and drums. The genres of jazz and classical music melt together into a fascinating new formation.

REVIEW:

Nikolai Kapustin has been described as ‘A Russian in Gershwin’s clothing’ and on listening to this disc it is immediately understandable as to why. Like Gershwin Kapustin was classically trained (by Alexander Goldenweiser among others) and never considered himself a jazz pianist though as he explained he had to become one to create and play his compositions.

All the selected pieces that German pianist Frank Dupree has put together for this disc were originally written for piano solo. Frank has cleverly used the piano’s left hand plus harmonic structure to form the double bass part while drummer ‘Obi’ Jenne does improvise upon the other two musicians’ product. All three musicians are at the top of their game here and make the most powerful case for the chosen material. The result is a hugely enjoyable disc of brilliantly scintillating jazz that has a smile on its face from beginning to end. I had come across the composer last year and enjoyed what I heard but can honestly say that the addition of bass and drums has lifted the compositions to a new level and made them more enjoyable and I believe will attract a wider audience. This can only do the reputation of Nikolai Kapustin a great deal of good and open up his other compositions to greater public interest.

21 of the 23 tracks on the disc are original compositions by Kapustin while the closing pair are his tribute to Ary Barosso’s Aquarela do Brasil and Kenny Dorham’s Blue Bossa. This is a delightful disc that will surprise and thrill every jazz piano fan who might not have thought a product of Soviet times could compose such life-affirming jazz.

--MusicWeb International (Steve Arloff)

The very first audition brought Oliver Mascarenhas to the NDR Radiophilharmonie Hannover in 1997. This was followed by a busy concert schedule, radio and television productions, and successes at international competitions. On his first album production, Oliver Mascarenhas presents himself as a highly virtuoso interpreter of the cello concerto by Friedrich Gulda as well as three pieces by the Russian jazz composer Nikolai Kapustin, who died in July 2020. As grandiose bonus tracks we hear Gulda with four jazz standards, recorded in 1958 at the NDR. On bass none other than the young Hans alias James Last.

Detours is a compilation of works for piano by composers of different origins from approximately the last century. This is an a very appealing program of music for piano. Born in Indonesia, pianist Martin Kesuma is a graduate of Texas State University and the University of Texas at Austin. He is currently pursuing his Doctor of Musical Arts degree with Professor Anton Nel at the University of Texas, where he holds the positions of Piano Project Coordinator and Class Piano Teaching Assistant. Martin’s recent highlights include first prize at the PianoHouse International Piano Competition, the Ben Gomez Award at the Texas State International Piano Festival, Honorable Mention at the San Jose International Piano Competition, Special Recognition Award at the Weatherford College International Piano Competition, and performance of Stravinsky Concerto for Piano and Wind Instruments with the Density512 Orchestra.

In recent years, the jazz-like, classical and modern music by the Ukrainian composer Nikolai Kapustin (*1937) has become an inside tip on classical concert stages. During a visit to Nikolai Kasputin in Moscow ten years ago, the composer entrusted the cellist Eckart Runge with the notes for his Cello Concerto No. 1 op. 85, which, unlike the second one, had neither been performed nor recorded. The work vibrant with energy combines in unparalleled manner colorful symphonic music with the groovy sound of the big band tradition and the virtuosity of a Charlie Parker with the chamber music intimacy of a Miles Davis into a new and fulminant musical diction. With his fascinating, poly-stylistic realm of sound, mirroring an absolutely personal diction, two decades after his death Alfred Schnittke has become one of the composers of the 20th century permanently established in the repertoire. The Concerto for Cello and Orchestra No. 1 was commissioned by the City of Munich for the inauguration of the Gasteig Cultural Centre in 1985/86.

Dora Deliyska: "It was an exciting and challenging process to record the complex structure of 24 études and préludes. Some of the etudes belong to the most difficult pieces in piano literature, and the préludes have intense musical potential. I decided to record the pieces over a short period of time, in order to keep the spontaneity of the interpretation. I am very thankful to the Teldex Team (René Möller and Jakob Bötcher) and the piano technician Gerd Finkenstein for sharing this musical experience together, and creating an exciting recording.“

REVIEW:

The Russian composer Nikolai Kapustin (1937-2020), who died at the beginning of the pandemic-related cultural hiatus which has been unique with regard to world history, was able to experience considerable appreciation in his last two decades, which recently gained more and more momentum. Coming from an aristocracy of piano teaching - Kapustin was a pupil of a pupil of Horowitz's teacher Blumenfeld and then studied with the great Alexander Goldenweiser until 1961 - he was denied great recognition in the Soviet Union. As with many great piano composers since Chopin, the cycle of concert etudes from the middle of his life is particularly suitable for an introduction to this world of works. Kapustin's typical reference to jazz, which probably kept him from greater success in the Soviet years, is based on the highly individual, deliberate adaptation of stylistic elements. He got to know jazz greats such as Ellington, Basie, Cole, Garner, Peterson and others through records and the radio and picked out what suited him.

The extremely sensitive, not monotonously hammering as is so often the case, approach of the Chinese pianist A Bu, who is also trained in jazz, is pleasing with regard to interpretation, and he demonstrates his affinity for Kapustin's music through two samples of his own work. An affectionate and valuable addition to the recording is the story of his acquaintance with Kapustin in Moscow told by the young A Bu in the accompanying booklet, illustrated with photos.

What happens when three different musical personalities with different backgrounds but a common home in Georgia join forces and decide to form a trio? This can lead to an unconventional journey, as in the case of Ketevan Sepashvili, Temo Kharshiladze and Sandro Sidamonidze. They met in Vienna in 2019 and realised that it was only logical to embark on a musical path together. Flute, cello and piano are not a particularly common combination on the concert scene and in the repertoire, which is why arrangements of works originally created for other instruments are often on the desks of Trio Revolution. During their first concert project together, in which they performed Mendelssohn's D minor Trio, Ketevan, Temo and Sandro experienced the fascination of collective energy. The charisma of this encounter was immense, which led to an engagement for another concert - this time at a sold-out concert at the Vienna Musikverein! For this CD, the Trio-Revolution decided to explore original works especially for flute, cello and piano - music through which the three native Georgians, now living in Austria and the USA, will take you on an exciting and unconventional journey.