@Snookbone Kupustin is ethnic Russian, Velikorusski to be more precise. And some info: Russians (Velikorusski) and Ukrainians (Malorusski) is the same folk. Same story as with FRG and GDR Germans.
Very thorough, respectful playing of this piece. Thank you for taking the time to allowing the clever nuance to come through! I'm putting etudes 3, 6 and 7 on a CD this year (7 is my favorite). Once I learned one Kapustin piece, I was completely infected, and I aspire to the 2nd sonata. The last movement is intimidating, though. :)
@TheMoritati Hey thanks...please keep me posted on your CD...Mr. K's pieces are always harder than they sound! I'm totally impressed that you''d be thinking about Sonata #2...whew!
Right, it's a kind of drumming on the piano...he's also pretty busy. Sone people like it, some like melodies more and others respond to nice harmonies. It's all in the DNA I guess.
...hard not to avoid the impression that a RUSSIAN, working this, well, supposedly american material, is really, almost by definition, out of his depth...it is worked up too technically, without soul, etc.,...for all that it is a kick for pianists, so what the fuck, one can always get drunk in order to make it work...
@Maddolis ...making this kind of music work is forbiddingly difficult even for native american composers far more famous than Kapustin...for an elderly Russian musician he is not bad at all...but, by definition pretty much, trying to work this kind of material, he is a bit on thin ice...
@Maddolis ...because I am a critic and my job is to find faults with things, I labored mightily to find things to say that would piss off the Kapustin fans. Really, not that easy to do, at least not anything smart. He plays his preludes Op. 53, extraordinarily, a better pianist than a composer, will that piss off anybody? A typical federicfranc dirty trick: after the Kapustin listen to" Keith Jarret solo (1967)", upl. by haduroboros, (a t is missing in there)...
@chrismanners1 ...does not take much of a critic to pick up what the trouble is with much of Mr.Kapustin's output...I don't want to insult the names of the publications I write for by implying that is what it takes...grade school children with a music program can do this kind of "Kapustin criticism" called for here...
@chrismanners1 ...an idea for a moneymaker, for a London run, exportable to Broadway: Mr, Kapustin the octagenarian comes to London and all these really dark-skinned Brit sixteenish gals try to seduce him, this is a musical with the musical numbers centering on bizarre sex practices these females want to try out on the octagenarian, his musical style is easy to imitate, just need somebody to write the libretto (ME?)...NOW, you believe I am a critic?...
@fredericfranc I really don't know how to go about this. All I can say is I know Kapustin personally. I can tell you that what you just said is actually a direct insult towards him. Why would you be insulting the names of the publications you write for? Aren't critics supposed to be proud of the publications they write for? I know quite a few critics quite well, Norman Lebrecht being one, and none are as offensive/arrogant as you. No one I know has heard of you "Frederic Franc".
@chrismanners1 ..impressed by your knowing this composer personally. My idea for the "musical" is not really intended to be insulting to anybody in particular, more like a racy comment on the prevailing "musical market" conditions in England today. I may not be a big fan of Mr.K as a composer, but he is still quite an artist, and I like the fact he is getting all the attention. Am a BIG fan of Mr. Lebrecht, and was much influenced by his diverse writings...
@fredericfranc Normans writing has a deep element of respect to it that seems to be lacking in yours. Before writing my message to you I took the time to read some of your other comments regarding Argerich, Horowitz, and even Krystian Zimerman. I think a re thinking of your opinions and expressions is needed. It's not coming across that you are a music critic, it's coming across that you are bitter, arrogant, and exceptionally deluded. Kapustin is a great composer, that's a fact, not an opinion.
@chrismanners1 Mr. Lebrecht, writing as a famous professional understandably is courteous and considerate. Fredericfranc, commenting on YT can concentrate, in style and content, on what attracts his attention most often, which is usually the perversities and aberrations in ideas, views and interpretations...My notions on Argerich and Horo. are fairly conventional, in the main, if you think about what I am trying to say there, I simply try to avoid the "kneejerk" type responses..
Kapustin 's own rendition does sound a bit rushed, but I have no doubt that his interpretation could be executed at that tempo given the requisite technical skills. I have noticed that Kapustin's own recordings tend to be a little bit dry, and he tends to speed through some sections
However it seems to me that you have shifted a few notes out of their proper temporal places in order to make them fit the swing rhythm... the variegation of the syncopation in the piece is, I think, intended to emphasize a mechanically frenetic feeling, with phrases of unpredictable length flowing together, rather than the feeling of rhythmic steadiness imparted by the use of swing.
Hey, thanks for sending me the video. It's quite interesting to hear Op. 40 No. 8 in a swing style! It has a totally different feel from the usual interpretation. You have very sure fingers, excellent control, and a good rhythm.
@RobinLSL Hi......I "discovered" Kapustin a few weeks ago, wow!
I do #8 slower because the lines and harmonies come out better!....Mr. K's fast tempos sometimes don't add excitement but merely make his great music go too fast for people to catch it's beauties!
I play with a swing feel because much of his music IS swing. I treat the piano like a drum or vocal instrument....(see my "What Instrument Is a Piano" vid here.)
You play so well I'm not sure I could teach you anything!
@RobinLSL exactly, i like the slow approach, i'm using it for the #6 as well, i think many fast Kapustin performances marginalize the accompaniment and focus too much on bringing out the melody clearly, your playing is fantastic!
You made a good point there...Mr. K's LH parts are as complex and interesting as the RH,,,,a slower tempo allows more to come out.
Also, I tend to treat the piano as a voice, drum, harp, guitar, etc....Mr. K. approaches it in the German manner...ie: it is a machine that produces pitches.
@radiokid2 Indeed, I find Kapustin's music to be very polyphonic, almost like a transcription of a jazz band. When I perform his work, I work out the implied instrumentation of each parts and give them different personalities. It then becomes much exciting to me.
Well,I already worked up three pieces since I "discovered " him in Fenruary....maybe a CD by this Xmas.....(my producer sez it will "be a cold way" when he works with me again...)
*Ukrainian genius.
Snookbone 1 month ago
@Snookbone Kupustin is ethnic Russian, Velikorusski to be more precise. And some info: Russians (Velikorusski) and Ukrainians (Malorusski) is the same folk. Same story as with FRG and GDR Germans.
werkzeug0 1 week ago
Very thorough, respectful playing of this piece. Thank you for taking the time to allowing the clever nuance to come through! I'm putting etudes 3, 6 and 7 on a CD this year (7 is my favorite). Once I learned one Kapustin piece, I was completely infected, and I aspire to the 2nd sonata. The last movement is intimidating, though. :)
TheMoritati 1 month ago
@TheMoritati Hey thanks...please keep me posted on your CD...Mr. K's pieces are always harder than they sound! I'm totally impressed that you''d be thinking about Sonata #2...whew!
radiokid2 1 month ago
Love it :) Really really good playing :) it's nice to have a little introduction to the work as well :) these works are far from easy!
chrismanners1 1 month ago
Excellent playing , much in common with Kapustin's own performance. I also admire your minimal use of pedal.
p1anosteve 2 months ago
I don't get this type of music, no melody, just hitting the keys randomly it seems.
apnisse 2 months ago
@apnisse
Right, it's a kind of drumming on the piano...he's also pretty busy. Sone people like it, some like melodies more and others respond to nice harmonies. It's all in the DNA I guess.
radiokid2 2 months ago
@apnisse gotta listen harder. it's full of multiple melodies!
AuraStudios 4 weeks ago
...hard not to avoid the impression that a RUSSIAN, working this, well, supposedly american material, is really, almost by definition, out of his depth...it is worked up too technically, without soul, etc.,...for all that it is a kick for pianists, so what the fuck, one can always get drunk in order to make it work...
fredericfranc 3 months ago
@fredericfranc How much Kapustin have you listened to?
Maddolis 2 months ago
@Maddolis ...making this kind of music work is forbiddingly difficult even for native american composers far more famous than Kapustin...for an elderly Russian musician he is not bad at all...but, by definition pretty much, trying to work this kind of material, he is a bit on thin ice...
fredericfranc 2 months ago
@fredericfranc Most of those musicians don't blend it with classical music as strongly. It's different.
Maddolis 2 months ago
@Maddolis ...because I am a critic and my job is to find faults with things, I labored mightily to find things to say that would piss off the Kapustin fans. Really, not that easy to do, at least not anything smart. He plays his preludes Op. 53, extraordinarily, a better pianist than a composer, will that piss off anybody? A typical federicfranc dirty trick: after the Kapustin listen to" Keith Jarret solo (1967)", upl. by haduroboros, (a t is missing in there)...
fredericfranc 2 months ago
@fredericfranc You're a music critic? Who are you employed to write for?
chrismanners1 1 month ago
@chrismanners1 ...does not take much of a critic to pick up what the trouble is with much of Mr.Kapustin's output...I don't want to insult the names of the publications I write for by implying that is what it takes...grade school children with a music program can do this kind of "Kapustin criticism" called for here...
fredericfranc 1 month ago
@chrismanners1 ...an idea for a moneymaker, for a London run, exportable to Broadway: Mr, Kapustin the octagenarian comes to London and all these really dark-skinned Brit sixteenish gals try to seduce him, this is a musical with the musical numbers centering on bizarre sex practices these females want to try out on the octagenarian, his musical style is easy to imitate, just need somebody to write the libretto (ME?)...NOW, you believe I am a critic?...
fredericfranc 1 month ago
@fredericfranc I really don't know how to go about this. All I can say is I know Kapustin personally. I can tell you that what you just said is actually a direct insult towards him. Why would you be insulting the names of the publications you write for? Aren't critics supposed to be proud of the publications they write for? I know quite a few critics quite well, Norman Lebrecht being one, and none are as offensive/arrogant as you. No one I know has heard of you "Frederic Franc".
chrismanners1 1 month ago
@chrismanners1 ..impressed by your knowing this composer personally. My idea for the "musical" is not really intended to be insulting to anybody in particular, more like a racy comment on the prevailing "musical market" conditions in England today. I may not be a big fan of Mr.K as a composer, but he is still quite an artist, and I like the fact he is getting all the attention. Am a BIG fan of Mr. Lebrecht, and was much influenced by his diverse writings...
fredericfranc 1 month ago
@fredericfranc Normans writing has a deep element of respect to it that seems to be lacking in yours. Before writing my message to you I took the time to read some of your other comments regarding Argerich, Horowitz, and even Krystian Zimerman. I think a re thinking of your opinions and expressions is needed. It's not coming across that you are a music critic, it's coming across that you are bitter, arrogant, and exceptionally deluded. Kapustin is a great composer, that's a fact, not an opinion.
chrismanners1 1 month ago
@chrismanners1 Mr. Lebrecht, writing as a famous professional understandably is courteous and considerate. Fredericfranc, commenting on YT can concentrate, in style and content, on what attracts his attention most often, which is usually the perversities and aberrations in ideas, views and interpretations...My notions on Argerich and Horo. are fairly conventional, in the main, if you think about what I am trying to say there, I simply try to avoid the "kneejerk" type responses..
fredericfranc 1 month ago
Great!!!!
balihiro 4 months ago
contact me for kapustin sheets
newjebenthan 8 months ago
This as fast as I can play this piece fluently at the moment...
winxcat 10 months ago
look at his hands on four last chords :D he is not player
eelleezz 11 months ago
This song is killing me at the moment!
I can't play it very fluently and have small fingers, but hopefully will get there eventually.
You're interpretation is amazing - doesn't sound as 'clashy' as others :)
RanvirPiano 1 year ago
I like your interpretation a lot. Quite different from the composer's own performance, but I think yours is original and valuable. Congrats!
micheldvorsky 1 year ago
Great Great Great!!!!!!!!!
taevas306 1 year ago
Just wonderful!
OldRabit 1 year ago
Kapustin 's own rendition does sound a bit rushed, but I have no doubt that his interpretation could be executed at that tempo given the requisite technical skills. I have noticed that Kapustin's own recordings tend to be a little bit dry, and he tends to speed through some sections
Just my opinion :)
flamingspinach 1 year ago
However it seems to me that you have shifted a few notes out of their proper temporal places in order to make them fit the swing rhythm... the variegation of the syncopation in the piece is, I think, intended to emphasize a mechanically frenetic feeling, with phrases of unpredictable length flowing together, rather than the feeling of rhythmic steadiness imparted by the use of swing.
flamingspinach 1 year ago
Hey, thanks for sending me the video. It's quite interesting to hear Op. 40 No. 8 in a swing style! It has a totally different feel from the usual interpretation. You have very sure fingers, excellent control, and a good rhythm.
flamingspinach 1 year ago
This is really great!
4candles 1 year ago
Awesome! Amazing! Yours is the best interpretation of Op.40-8 I've ever listend to.
Swing !Swing!Swing!! ---Wow. Very relaxing music .
I wish I could play this like you.
RavellinoChuChu 1 year ago
@RavellinoChuChu -
Thanks for your kind comment on Kapustin....I hope to have a CD of his stuff out this year...
I have done a lot of YouTube vids on jazz (pentatonics, swing, chords, etc)...I'll attach one on swing below...
I sometimes think Kapustin and i were separated at birth!
radiokid2 1 year ago
Very interesting how playing it slightly slower than Kapustin himself lets you play the quavers in swing.
Do you give lessons? By the most amazing luck I happen to be in Seattle and I'll still be there for about a week...
RobinLSL 1 year ago
@RobinLSL Hi......I "discovered" Kapustin a few weeks ago, wow!
I do #8 slower because the lines and harmonies come out better!....Mr. K's fast tempos sometimes don't add excitement but merely make his great music go too fast for people to catch it's beauties!
I play with a swing feel because much of his music IS swing. I treat the piano like a drum or vocal instrument....(see my "What Instrument Is a Piano" vid here.)
You play so well I'm not sure I could teach you anything!
Marius
radiokid2 1 year ago
@RobinLSL exactly, i like the slow approach, i'm using it for the #6 as well, i think many fast Kapustin performances marginalize the accompaniment and focus too much on bringing out the melody clearly, your playing is fantastic!
Sorcerer88 1 year ago
@Sorcerer88
You made a good point there...Mr. K's LH parts are as complex and interesting as the RH,,,,a slower tempo allows more to come out.
Also, I tend to treat the piano as a voice, drum, harp, guitar, etc....Mr. K. approaches it in the German manner...ie: it is a machine that produces pitches.
It's just a cultural difference.
radiokid2 1 year ago
@radiokid2 Indeed, I find Kapustin's music to be very polyphonic, almost like a transcription of a jazz band. When I perform his work, I work out the implied instrumentation of each parts and give them different personalities. It then becomes much exciting to me.
kiisaka 8 months ago
@kiisaka
Glad to hear you say that...sometimes the LH is an elect. bass or a drum...sometimes the RH is an operatic voice or a guitar etc...
I'll send a vid talking about that...
radiokid2 8 months ago
great
joyjoyjoy21 1 year ago
Blazing!
7notemode 1 year ago
A little too legato for me. But nonetheless it was a great performance!
TheFrenziedPianist 1 year ago
@pgrockas1
Well,I already worked up three pieces since I "discovered " him in Fenruary....maybe a CD by this Xmas.....(my producer sez it will "be a cold way" when he works with me again...)
radiokid2 1 year ago