Kapustin - Preludes Op.53 nos. 7 and 12

Lately Kapustin has gotten hold of me again. I've been working real long and hard on these two preludes. Yet no.12, that the tricky bastard which seems to be everybody's favorite, would not come without some little flubs. Ah well, maybe in a next life I can attain perfection.

Kapustin - 24 Preludes Op.53 - 7: Moderato (1:40)
Kapustin - 24 Preludes Op.53 - 12: Allegretto (2:12)

I decided to depart from my usual "Light Concert Hall" reverb in favor of "Vocal (Natural reverb)" which seems to suit Kapustin's dry-ish music better.

I've also video'ed these two. Sound tracks are identical to mp3 - no edits

http://youtu.be/RMy-LdZprQI (No. 7)
http://youtu.be/P5a_45gq_z0 (No. 12)

 

Thanks Andrew. I'll be working on more of these preludes. Rest assured, I have no intention to upset you with Doucet :wink:

 

Thanks Monica Yes it's great music, and great fun to play and practice even though it's bloody hard work.

 

I've written you some youtube comments, but like Monica says this is fun music. I can see how these would be hard work, I would imagine they would be hard even for a concert pianist to get up to standards. I like the Jokerman font at the beginning of the video . These pieces may be hard but they do sound playful. Kapustin seems to change time a lot in the Allegretto. He does that in one of the concert etudes also. It's like a ragtime piece, momentarily! We can always count on Kapustin to be quirky, eh?

 

Thanks Riley ! Yes I think that playful font goes with the music, certainly no.12. This music is very hard work but also addictive. And afterwards, a lot of other music suddenly feels much easier to play

Actually Kapustin hardly ever changes meters, but there can be a lot going on within 1 bar, irregular groupings, offbeat accents, syncopations, sudden bursts of swing and/or stride, you name it. Quirky is the word - and yet is all completely worked out and balanced, and written down with utmost precision - not unlike Bach. Kapustin never ceases to amaze me.

 

Hi Chris,

Bravo! I really enjoyed your renditions of both preludes. You have good courage to take on some of Kapustin's music. I think you play it very well, and the Gaveau seems perfectly suited to these jazzy pieces too.

I hear you about attaining perfection at the piano in the afterlife. With my luck I'll probably be assigned to the glockenspiel.

David

 

Chris,

I loved them both. First, Kapustin knows modern American Jazz. He also knows how to give you the feel of a combo in a small lounge playing until the wee hours of the night.

First, let me say that I think that you pulled off his "composed" improvisational jazz skill off extremely well. I first listened to the audio and I was thinking "how does anyone make it sound like the bass riff continues even when there are not enough hands to do it?" The first one, he created the bass line that stuck in your head and after that, it took only a couple of notes in the bass.

The second one is a "Boogie Woogie". My arm gets tired so easily that it is so difficult to keep it up. I would be able to do "Boogie Woogie". Maybe Kapustin figured out a pattern that doesn't do that. Even if he didn't, I would say that you showed it off beautifully.

This would be good stuff to do in a lounge (although you will need "My Funny Valentine", "All Of Me", and "Misty" mixed in.

Scott

 

Thank you David ! I think I need to redo no.12 though. There's too much going wrong there - although much is going well also.
Yes the Gaveau seems to sound well in this music. Not sure if that is the instrument or the drier-than-usual playing I try to apply in Kapustin.

 

Scott, thank you too for the comments. Indeed Kapustin knows his jazz (and even blues) extremely well. The Op.53 set is a true compendium of jazz styles, molded with great precision into classical formats. To me it is an unbeatable combination. In his more recent works he seems to get more expansive and overtly jazzy, to the point of being garrulous. I find that less interesting but others may feel differently.

What I love about Kapustin is that he does not make things harder than they need to be to achieve the goal. For all its difficulty, the music always fits perfectly under the fingers and there is never any virtuosity for the sake of it.

It is my dream to one day complete this great set of Preludes but it will be a long haul. Some of them I haven't even dared to touch yet....

 

Chris, these pieces are nice (I didn't know them!) and are very convincingly played here! congratulations!

 

Thanks Luis. And good to see you back !