Kapustin Concert Study Op. 40, No. 1

[sparrowmella]

i decided to watch this again cos i wanted to :D you really are amazing!

[kwixotic]

This has a rather "Gershwinian" kind of feel to it.

[newjebenthan]

contact me for kapustin sheets

[pianogeek54]

omg, this is fantastic, bravo! i'm a professional 'classical' pianist who recently discovered Kapustin. I prefer Kapustin's playing of his own stuff to Hamelin--and you really capture the style amazingly well. In its own way, Hamelin's playing is excellent--it just feels musically a bit, well, too smooth, whereas in Kapustin's the music is so primal and alive. You really nailed this, with such an effortless technical approach too. Hats off to you!!

[javiertw89]

Very nice! Congratulations.

[MichaSchlechtriem]

Wow, this is great!

You are very close to Kapustin himself!

Kudos,

Michael

[radiokid2]

A perfect effortless performance...a VERY nice sounding small piano too!

[ikemaster9]

This is really really great. You play it just like Kapustin himself.

[Raidon90]

absolutely brilliant!

I just subscribed

[stephenjoeagi]

Wonderful. Bravo.

[blah81blah]

This is fantastic. I'll be basing my performance on your interpretation haha. Thanks for sharing.

[pianofan2010]

Are you the same pianist who also played a Bach suite movement on YT so well? If so, I feel the same rhythm from this piece as in the Bach. Keep on grovin! You have a true gift. Thanks for sharing!

[jameslill]

No, it isn't me, but thank you for your kind comments!

[Theonedue]

Would this be considered jazz or fusion?

[jameslill]

I would say both! His style is built on jazz idioms but often within classical structures :)

[orrinvanzelf]

Really good left hand

[gatorno11]

Simply beautiful

[yeh1216]

Excellent!. This is the best Kapustin performance I've seen on youtube except Kapustin himself. Your elegant fingers are moving freely...! Thank you for this upload.

[lesginka]

very good and cleaned... a little to slow. It loses energy and its own character, but absolutely not bad!

[lklkhjhjdfs]

I don't knew Kasputin but i really love his music . What's the best interprete of kapustin today ?

[pookiehohn]

Marc-Andre Hamelin is one of the most respected Kapustin interpreters.

[archangelz1106]

@lklkhjhjdfs Kapustin is the best interpreter of Kapustin! (:

[takeonme79]

brilliant performance, lots of musicality

[kiisaka]

I have a different vision in a way that it possesses an element of hard rock, starting from the first measure, and more of an ensemble piece with distinct characters, as opposed to a solo performance. Certainly, my performance comes across as a very different interpretation from Kapustin's own, but I would expect that composers welcome different takes on their work.

For something extreme, listen to a performance by Andaloro. Please let me know what you think.

[flamingspinach]

The recording I've heard was 2000 vintage, but I'm not sure what piano he was using. I have listened to Andaloro's yxHeQvzujsw, and found it a bit lacking in the rhythm department, not to mention blurry and too fast, without even a consistent tempo. I must say I don't approve :P

[flamingspinach]

I don't really see what you mean by saying that this is an "ensemble piece". There's one clear melodic line, albeit with a "solo" in the middle section. The rest is all brilliant rhythmic and chordal characterization of that melody. I don't really see any motifs that could distinguish different "characters", except maybe the trill that often shows up in the left hand.

[flamingspinach]

In any case, color and texture are great, and maybe Kapustin doesn't have as much of them as some professional pianists, but if bought at the expense of muddiness they become a little pointless, in my opinion. In the end, what I want to hear is not a sea of sound full of color and texture, but a piece of music which lends itself to aural analysis. It would probably be rather painful to read along in the score with Andaloro's performance :P

[flamingspinach]

But again, it depends on the audience, I guess.

By the way, if you click "reply" under someone's comment directly, instead of just adding a new comment to a video, the original commenter will get an email notification :) I'm lucky I stopped by this video again or I wouldn't have known you replied.

[kiisaka]

Kapustin certainly possesses the immense technical facility that really comes through his recordings. However, I was somewhat dissastisfied with the range of the colours and textures. It could be the beat-up piano he used for recording (An old Steinway? A new Estonia? I suspent there weren't too many Western-world instruments in Russia in the '80s) or his vision of his composition itself.

[kiisaka]

Very good point. Thanks.

There is always an argument about whether the composer's performance of his/her own composition is the most authentic version or not, however. Certainly, there have been many composers who recorded their own compositions, and some were more successful than others.

[mh540]

..juicy

[diuleelomei]

why the end has been chopped?

I love your performance, nearly perfect. I love Etude no.3 the most and this one comes 2nd. Are you going to record no.3 as well?

[MetalGearNemez]

I play this one

( by Nikolai Kapustin Concert Etude 40 No.1)

too and I'm 14 years old. The price only for this etude is 49 € (50 Dollars) !!! UNBELIEVEABLE ......

[Botchlae]

49 € makes 75 dollars

[MetalGearNemez]

not bad not bad...I must say you played it very good !!! and i've heard no misstakes

[jannokas85]

Pretty amazing. By the sounds of it...the rhythms in this piece are quite complex, but you've done well!

[musician1245780]

whoa the first time i heard a jazz etude and it's wonderful.

i wana play this piece.... anyone know how i could get the music sheet? or somehow download it? thanks!

[kiisaka]

Pretty good performance. Very well intended, and a very earnest reading of the piece. I wish more colours and exuberance. I mean, this is the "Prelude" that needs to get the audience a'rockin'. The tempo is just about right, though I may have wanted a little more brilliance, not through faster pace, but through more accurate articulations and placement of accents.

Good work. Much better than most.

[wizardfingers]

what the hell man. no need for bloody analysis

[kiisaka]

Ok, wizard... Where's your performance of the piece?

:) :)

[Botchlae]

Play in strict time then you'll be able to talk.

This version is by far better than yours.

[flamingspinach]

IMO both of you guys' recordings have their strong points. But I have to say that as a musician I'm more interested in hearing the notes clearly, the harmonic flow, the interplay of rhythm, and less interested in being "set a'rockin'". Listening to Kapustin's recordings, it seems he thinks this way too - and I wouldn't be surprised, since he's the one who knows the piece best, and has the best chance to bring out every nuance to the audience :) jameslill seems a bit closer in that regard, IMO.

[sagara89]

OMG I hate the timing of this etude(not your playing, learning it I mean), it's driving me to insanity... Great performance.

[PuRePiaNiST1990]

good comment,you so know the piece ^^

Try count the beats out loud while playing it, it's the hardest thing u can possibly get ha

=D

[finitaest79]

omg james it's you! the..headless pianist. dominic brought my attention to this. can't really listen as i'm in college but i will when i can. looks impressive anyhow, you should tell our teacher!!! 'Man, wot is this youtube. Man, you must not advertise..'

[grantwoolard]

This piece made me realize how underrated Kaputsin is. Poor man doesn't even have a wikipedia entry!

[Bulacanos]

now does

[Florestan1982]

I been playing about the same amount of time as you - and also disdain admitting it.. you know how it is, you see those 7-year olds playing concertos flawlessly and it's like "GRRR!" lol. Carried it well, good job :)

[Gildrith]

Very well done!!! i aspire to play like this, how long have you been playing the piano?

[jameslill]

Longer than I'm willing to admit to! About 10 years :)

[vivace119]

you legend...that was fantastic! All of op40 are fantastic i think even though this is probably my favourite of the lot. The 2nd one (reverie) is quite incredible though - very dreamy.

[elevateme]

what a coincidence.. doesnt reverie mean dream? lol

[vivace119]

yeh, reverie does mean dream in french...and fortunately the material holds up to that.

[tdavis2797]

how long did it take you to learn this in its entirety?

[jameslill]

I learnt it over about a week I guess... It was about three weeks before I could play it though!

[tdavis2797]

I've never really completed an entire song...does sight reading make it that much easier to memorize a song? And if possible, exactly how long did it take to reach a level of competence as far as sight reading is concerned?

[jameslill]

I don't think sight reading directly facilitates the ability to memorise music... The only way to become good at commiting music to memory is by practising doing it, and developing techniques of your own that help with memory.

Sight reading is a similiar principle, it just takes practise. I have been playing the piano for so long now that I couldn't tell you exactly at what point I reached a competent level of sight reading, but the more you practise it, the quicker it will improve.

[with9isavailable]

I used to memorize everything, never really reading other than to learn a note once, then play a phrase over and over. Later, when I realized that I should become a better sight reader, and did, I think my memorizing skills stayed the same, or lessened. Maybe just because I've only memorized a few pieces in the past year or so but "played" hundreds.

[tdavis2797]

that's the same way i learn my music. i read once and memorize in that one instance, progressing one measure a day if i grasp the technical aspects of the piece in a day's time.

[Horobosu]

jameslill you are amazing!! big fan!! x

[elevateme]

learn the 5th one... thats amazing. and not too hard

[jameslill]

Maybe... I want to learn the third :)

[elevateme]

you got msn?

[elevateme]

hows the third going?

[jameslill]

Not bad, finished learning it but it will need a lot of work before I can play it...

[tdavis2797]

the 5th is at a frightening pace however...i started building a midi file upon interpreting the sheets. there are some very strange things happening between each bar...it may not be as easy as it appears on score.

[elevateme]

woooweeee!! amazing! you should do more!!!