Kapustin Toccata, op. 8

[RediForKing]

I completely refuse to believe that this is not sped up.

[MrDemetrio135]

FUCK YEAH! BIG KAPUSTIN,THE ZAR OF JAZZ!

[f1f1s]

Kapusta ME GUSTA!

[hornmanaus]

ok so that is officially the COOLEST video ever! Kapustin is da man!

[fredericfranc]

...this video did define for me, and, perhaps, will define for some out there, the concept of shitlessness, as in being rendered shitless by someone's piano-playing...this is what getting religion is all about...

[as2011]

First I thought its a russian version of Liberace. But to be honest this is much better!!

[TheExarion]

This is when skill had to be learnt, not editted.

[jennifer86010]

Kapustin is the first to admit he is not an improvisational jazz artist, but rather a composer who writes jazz arrangements to be read note for note. Even so, his composing, his chops, his technique and his intense energy on the Toccata, his Inermetzzo, his Impromptu, and all of his work is phenomonal. Mind blowing, but with real musical nutrition. I'm a jazz pianist, and I don't play Kapustin, but I love listening to his work! Marc-Andre Hamelin plays it the best.

[TripleRhu]

HOLY SHIT

[wulbrechtbros]

i think at least 10,000 of these views are from me

[DavidMumo]

wow I love this guy

[DramStiletto]

OMGG THIS IS FUCKING AMAZINGGGGG

[Anuodnekh]

a genius

[fudgieyorkie]

Where can i find a recording of this?

[newjebenthan]

contact me for kapustin sheets

[fyrexia]

5 people hate music

[hkams]

well, great!

[daumesnil1000]

there aren't enough superlatives to describe how uber cool this is!

[TheKeenanBoy]

SAGHSaoFHNSDAJODSANTWE.

[leonchan15]

he's just too good!

[ENZODEROSA1964]

urka!!!!!!

[griegklavier]

Николай! Вы изумительный пианист! Великолепная музыка !!!

Я вспомнил ! Мы вместе работали на Радио, но в разных оркестрах.Григорий

[unclejuniorsoprano]

This is absolutely amazing. Sounds to me like American Jazz. I love it. Thanks, Maria, for turning me on to this page. I am now a Nikolai Kapustin fan for life.

[pianoaddict06]

moustache

[parkthoven]

Wow~! Bravo~!

[jasonpoland]

Which recording is this off of? I have a bunch of his recordings but have not found this performance ANYWHERE...

[Starbirdy9999]

@jasonpoland Yes, it is actually pretty rare. It has not been published, as far as I know, and this is the only performance of it I know of as well. Kapustin should publish it; it's a great work.

[ernesto1985]

Hey, sorry to point it out but... due to the COMPLETE ABSENSE OF MICROPHONES... this is all playback right?

[aptennap]

@ernesto1985 Maybe :p but it's not like Kapustin faked playing this fast, we all know he's this good :D

[santahujin]

thanks for the post. I love this

[RobinLSL]

that's so cool

[HensCambier]

So funny and amazing, electrifying..

[rossignolmusic]

Bite dust Emerson!

[tomekkobialka]

...gulp...

[LADYHIRA]

I Love That!!!!!!!!!

GREAT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[DownInMontegoBay]

This is well edited as well! WT ....

[gimh79]

Just wonderfull! Kapustin is really unbelievable.

[ComTh0m]

OMG!!! Kapustin is crazy. This is great performed and composed! Thx for sharing Nikkapfan :D

[Alu10000]

Fxxxxing great!

[ByronJanis]

Unbelievable!!!

[wilkw3]

geez, that's more acrobatics than jazz. I enjoy Kapustin's pieces, but this kind of.. eghem.. jazz is not my cup of tea.

[EdiEllerymissing]

AGREE!

[MultiN007]

исключительно, красиво, талантливо

[sammikoo]

so cool, nicholai kapustin is my fav jazz pianist!

[BEY0NDWARD]

that's one way to do it...

[pookiehohn]

Kapustin makes the others look like a high school jazz band!

Argg!! He's too good!

[loltheworld]

Fuck yeah! Kapustin is the man of the hour, every hour

[quickmoth]

Bravo!!!

[Grubenpony12]

Best music, I ever heard! Brilliant!

[bemyjazz]

I've been a jazz fan all my life and until yesterday never heard of Nikolai Kapustin!! He is sensational!!!! Thanks for posting the video.

[gatorno11]

When you accelerate the video, the pitch goes up. That's what happens with this video, that sounds a semitone upper than the original.

[bruillard]

ajme ... lik je izvan svih normi i kategorija..wow..

a frajer na gitari kao da je ukljucen na struju,haha..dirigent na drogama, a puhaci lagano sedirani :)

[XDETHpianist]

Wow at the pianist!

[loves2listen]

does anyone have the sheets for that piece? (orchestra or piano part) also one could show then that it is speeded-up for those none believers ;)

and thanks for that awesome clip

[tdavis2797]

he was 27 in this video...my word

[gromoglas77]

Потрясающе!!! Такой позитив! Спасибо огромное!

[Majik47]

The man is just phenomenal.

[adjpiano]

What a great video! What a great pianist and composer! Thanks so much for posting this.

[r1jnmf]

николай копустин!!!!

[callenishss]

speeding up doesnt have to require increase of pitch. see WIndows Media Player 10

[coqdorysme]

actually, they could just have played the reel and tape a corresponding amount faster - and speeding up a tape would result in an increase of pitch.

[5botball]

I think your right because their posture and movements look too relaxed for that kind of speed. If they were really playing fast, they would have approached their instruments differently.

[caffeytroll]

if this is a regular film on reel to reel, this clip could be sped up, thus making it sound faster and a half-tone higher.

[schnisha95]

i doubt it was sped up, because when he was playing in the end, in the lowest octave, it really was low enough and if it was sped up it would have sounded in the highest

[MagicSkryabin]

Yes, i noticed that too ! You may be right but there are pianos which have a D and a E after the highest C .. well i saw one like that.

[mdeonx12]

it looks like he plays the piano's highest note, C, but it sounds like C sharp, I sense a hoax(ish) thing going on in this vid

[kiisaka]

Actually, the clip appears to be sped up a little bit. It opens in f# minor, then ends in C# major, but if you look at Kapustin's hands, and the valve positions of the trumpets, it seems more likely that it actually begins in f minor then ends in C major.

Speeding up by a semi-tone means it's sped up by about 6%.

[sanctusignis]

Hey, you're right. When Kapustin hits the C at the end, it's a C#. And also, about the trumpets, that's a logical conclusion because it doesn't make sense to use instruments a half step up just for this.

[loves2listen]

@kiisaka check it out on my site (you were right, it's a semitone)

[lovesGenet]

Ifit was n't for Hamelin I would have never known of this guy. I like his Jazz sense and his preludes,etudes and sonatas are a real contribution.Why isnt hew talked about more. I really lie his  style . Some of he music i just can ever imagine playing yhe 4th mov of @nd sonata - stamina ,wrists and rythms oh god. My Heavens!!!

[sanctusignis]

Too bad that video got taken down (the one with the sheet music). That was nothing short of amazing.

[jero13595]

It's back up again!

[sanctusignis]

Hey, awesome! I wonder if that's the same guy with a new name...

[jero13595]

Yup it's the same guy.

[MissPianist]

Hi Sanctusignis,

I love this video and piece so much, I also think it's amazing! Do you know if there's actually sheet music to this piece, Toccata op. 8? Thank you so much.

[sanctusignis]

Well, I got the complete piano music of Kapustin from a torrent, but did not see it in there. Check pianofiles . com. You may find it there, but you just have to email the person who posted it.

[tdavis2797]

in the official publication notice, the status for toccatta op.8 is catalogued as "mislaid"

[JGnandes]

lol, it isn't really speeded up, that's some characteristcs of old cinema... and that's how the people acted in jazz apresentation back those years, rapidly and unflexible

[parkourGumby]

This has to be the greatest thing I've ever seen.

[jazzyhori]

Sound is totally of Jazz.

Accent of piano is different....

So this is Half Jazz.

[MEpianist]

Its very Soviet.

[yMew88]

Would you please elaborate what exactly this means in musical terms? musica can be good, or bad, or indifferent, but Soviet? - are we talking ideology or style or what??

is Shostakovich's music "Soviet"? what about Prokofiev's? Is Richter's style of piano playing or interpretation "Soviet"?

[MEpianist]

Its hard to explain, but what I study Russian myself. This piece reminds me of the music that was often in light Soviet film soundtracks, e.g. the movies of Gaidai. It's a blend of Big Band and virtuoso piano in the rhythm sections.

I don't think the music of 20th Century Russian composers is "Soviet" in that sense. I think you could talk about them in terms of the governmental repression in common, but they're clearly mature, very varied artists.

[smb12321]

In the USSR, we quickly learned that anything that did not work, was screwed up, didactic, unchanging or state-sponsored was called "soviet". Doors that don't close, watches that don't keep time, buildings with dirt floors and yes - cold, mechanical music in the "Soviet" stle. Everyone we met preferred Romantics.

[yMew88]

Well, in the USSR, there were watches that didn't work and they were indeed "Soviet". The gov't would slap "a mark of quality" on them and we'd have slogans "Soviet means excellent" which only unrescored the hypocrisy of the system. Kapustin is a genius but for all his fantastic talent he is not exactly a household name because his music did not adhere to the "Soviet" style. At least he could play with Oleg Lundstrem's band; Schnitke couldn't get his music performed at all most of the time.

[mendax1773]

Well, quite a bit of Schnitke's music is what people would call noise. I'm not one of them but Schnitke is an acquired taste. Kapustin is far more approachable, even in his "weirder" pieces (like the 4th movement of his 2nd Sonata).

[burobbi]

True. His sonata 2-4 is not weird. it's a very daring compositional gambit - a metrical exploration of 8+7+8+5/8. you need to analyse but you will find the 2 subjects and its many creative iterations. it's brilliant after you see it in a new light. but cheers.

[yMew88]

That's right. You said it: acquired. One must truly want to broaden one's musical horizon in order to grasp Schnitlke's music. My point was - that the good old music establishment made damn sure that people did not have a chance to acquire the taste for Schnitke's music bu suppressing it. You can read about it now - try Gidon Kremer's book "Инородный артист" for some examples...

[thechumdinger]

I don't think it is sped up, watch the woman running in the beginning.

[chesare2]

Completly awsome!! (even if speeded up). ttiimmggiill: thanks for the info, where can we look for the music?

[jozef252]

I can't believe he isn't more known.

He is simply my favourite composer walking the earth.I cant possibly express how much and how i appreciate kapustin,there's so much depth in his pieces,mind blowing.

[AlC92575]

I need the sheet music to this.

This guy ought to get a grammy.

[abbjorko]

great great great

[rscarbro]

So the score is lost... blast. Is there a clearer recording that exists somewhere? Maybe it could be transcribed (seriously). Also, I'm guessing there's more to the piece than what's on this video.

[mendax1773]

Transcribing the score would be a pretty difficult task, especially since you just can't hear everything. But Mr. Kapustin is still around.  Perhaps he will do us the honor of doing it.

[ccabrera]

HAHA look at the guitar players hands!!!

[geobeemississippi]

yeah it looks speeded up...

[ttiimmggiill]

It's actually a semitone higher than the original key, so it's speeded up by about 8% - not a huge amount.

[geobeemississippi]

wow thanks for telling me. how do you know? do you know, do you have the original score?

[ttiimmggiill]

I publish his music, and it was Marc-Andre Hamelin who told me about this speeded-up film. But the original score has been mislaid or maybe completely lost...

[geobeemississippi]

that's an awesome job, publishing Kapustin music. Who edits it?

[ttiimmggiill]

He does. The music is typeset in Moscow, and Mr K proofreads it before sending it on to me to publish the scores.

[geobeemississippi]

where can I buy them?

[ttiimmggiill]

You can get them at most music stores - there's a list on the composer's website on the Compositions page. Can't type the URL here, but just type the composer's full name followed by dot net and you should get there.

[geobeemississippi]

right thanks learned a lot from you.

[Richteralan]

I don't think the movie is speeded up.

A semitone higher than "original key" is not a good evident. Since the "original key," i.e. A440 is NOT universal standard even till today.

Also it's filmed 1964 (I presume), and there was NO effective way to speed-up a film clip without SERIOUSLY DISTORTING the audio.

[chad410]

fabuli

[mausob]

Crazy video!

Very interesting. Russian jazz in the comunist era! It has also a retro style! It's amazing. Colours of the image, the scenary, graphically incredible!

And a nice white Volga car at the beginning.

I have enjoyed it a lot!

[Bulacanos]

THIS IS FREAKING AMAZING!!!

[chumbazo]

must be an excerpt from a flick. American flick. sounds so vital and American (and dated), fantastic! Highly pianistic playing. thanks so much for this high quality (sound) clip!!!

[luckynao703]

thank you for posting this! I hope to see more! just wonderful!

[justinrp97]

Thanks for sharing this rare clip. I wish there was more!

[nikodr]

My god!What a great video,i wish we could all get the sheets but not many of us could play this at speed:)It is one of the greatest things i have ever seen

[jre58591]

this is a great video! kapustin is one of my favorite composers to listen to and play. thanks very much!

btw do you know when this will be published? id like to see the score someday.

[ttiimmggiill]

The score of this piece has been "mislaid", which means that the composer may have it somewhere or - more likely - that it is/was with the Moscow State Music Publishing House, or Lenfilm who made this film.