As a follow on from Shostakovich’s set of preludes and fugues this morning, I thought you might enjoy this set of 24 preludes and fugues by Nikolai Kapustin, in various jazz styles – imagine fugues as jazz!
Born in Horlivka, Ukraine, Kapustin composed his first piano sonata at the age of 13. In 1954 he studied jazz, supported by his teacher Avrealian Rubakh, then two years later studying with Alexander Goldenweiser at the Moscow Conservatoire.
He developed a reputation as an arranger and jazz pianist, playing in the Yury Saulsky Big Band and the Oleg Lundstrem Orchestra.
Overall Kapustin’s works include 20 piano sonatas, six piano concertos, other instrumental concertos, sets of piano variations, études and concert studies.
In 1977 he wrote his Suite in the Old Style based on the format and styles of Bach’s keyboard partitas but written to sound as jazz improvisation and includes an Allemande, two Gavottes, a Sarabande, two Bourrées and a Gigue.
He described himself as a composer and not a jazz musician. Later on he went on to write 24 Preludes in Jazz Styles:
and then in 1997 24 Preludes and Fugues – as had Bach, Chopin, Shostakovich, Alkanes, Scriabin, Rachmaninoff – even Liszt tried to start a set.
The Listening Project Blog 