Piano Concertos Nos. 2 and 6

It was like a small miracle when the music of Nikolai Kapustin was discovered by a broader Western audience: Who was this Soviet (!) composer, whose works sounded most like improvisations by Oscar Peterson ... and yet were completely composed "classical" music, with intricate scores that were black with notes? As we continue to discover more of Kapustin's music, such as can be heard on this recording, Kapustin developed his style subtly and steadily. He kept pace with the times; the jazz that influenced him changed over the years, and so did his music. In that sense, Kapustin never pinned himself down to a "found style", but remained flexible in his approach to the material that inspired him, as well as its integration into the classical orchestra. Kapustin's style is, in that respect, precisely that he has merged jazz and classical so inextricably.