Nikolai Kapustin is a Russian composer and pianist. He was born in Gorlovka, Ukraine, in 1937. Kapustin studied piano with Avrelian Rubak (pupil of Felix Blumenfeld who also taught Simon Barere and Vladimir Gorowitz) and, later, Alexander Goldenweiser of the Moscow Conservatory. During the 1950s he acquired a reputation as a jazz pianist, arranger and composer. He is permeated, therefore, in both the traditions of classical virtuoso pianism and improvisational jazz.
He fuses these influences in his compositions, using jazz idioms in formal classical structures. A striking example of this is his Suite in the Old Style op. 28, written in 1977, which inhabits the sound world of jazz improvisation but is modeled on baroque suites such as the keyboard partitas composed by J.-S. Bach, each movement being a stylized dance (or sometimes a pair of dances) in strict binary form. Other examples of this fusion are his set of 24 Preludes and Fugues op. 82 written in 1997, and the Sonatina op. 100.
Kapustin views himself as a composer rather than a jazz musician. He has said, "I was never a jazz musician. I never tried to be a real jazz pianist, but I had to do it because of the composing. I'm not interested in improvisation - and what is a jazz musician without improvisation? All my improvisations were written, of course, and they became much better; it improved them."
Among his works are 18 piano sonatas, 6 piano concerts, other instrumental concerts, many works for diverse instruments, sets of piano variations and concert studies.
The Suite for Cello solo op. 124 was written in 2004. Alexander Zagorinsky played it for the first time in 2007 in one of the concerts of modern music, and in 2009 he played it in Moscow Philharmonic in his concert dedicated to the creative work by Nikolai Kapustin. On this CD, the premiere recording of the Suite is presented.
The composer has extensively recorded his own music on Russian, Japanese and other countries' record labels.
His music is played by musicians from many countries.
Olga Viktorova, a Russian composer, was born in 1960.
She graduated from the Leningrad Conservatory and was a post-graduate student of composition under the guidance of Professor Boris Arapov. She is the author and organizer of numerous projects connected with the propaganda of modern art. It was on her initiative that in 2003, a new series of concerts, representing the synthesis of music, painting, and choreography, was started in Sverdlovsk State Philharmony. In 2009, the New Music Ensemble was organized under her guidance in Sverdlovsk Philharmony.
As the author of numerous pieces of chamber and symphony music, Olga Viktorova took part in concerts and festivals in many countries. Her music was played very often in Russia, Belgium, Germany, Netherlands, Spain, Ukraine, France, Canada, USA, and many others. Now she is very active as a composer as well.
Sonata for the cello solo was written soon after she graduated from the Conservatory in 1985 (second version in 1992). It was played by Alexander Zagorinsky in 2007 at the concert in the city of Perm, and some parts of this music were included in the CD with recordings of poetry under the title of "From the Past".
Alexander Zagorinsky is the soloist of the Moscow Philharmonic and he bears the title of "Honored Artist of Russia". Born in Moscow in 1962, he graduated from the Moscow Conservatory in 1986 and completed the post-graduate course under the guidance of Professor Natalia Shakhovskaya (1988). He is the winner of the national All-Union Competition in Kishinev (1985) and many international competitions, including the International Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow in 1990. Since 1991 till 2000, he was the leader of the cello group in the symphony orchestra of the Moscow Philharmonic.
Zagorinsky maintains an active concert schedule in Russia and other countries. He has a rich repertoire and excels equally in performing works by classical, romantic and modern composers. He is the participant of many international modern music festivals.
Together with the pianist and organist Alexei Shmitov, Zagorinsky recorded a number of CD's with compositions by Sergei Rachmaninov, Alexander Tansman, Edison Denisov, the CD with compositions by Cesar Frank, Claude Debussy, the CD with sonatas by Benedetto Marcello and Antonio Vivaldi, and others.
As a cellist, he collaborates closely with several contemporary composers and has had the privilege of being the first to perform several works by composers such as Edison Denisov, Vladimir Dashkevich, Yuri Kasparov, Alexander Shchetinsky (Ukraine), Jon Appleton (USA) and others. The recording of cello concerto and all chamber cello music were highly appreciated by the authors.
Zagorinsky is closely connected with the jazz pianist and composer Nikolai Kapustin by creative friendship ties. He played world premieres of Kapustin's Cello concerto No. 2 with chamber orchestra, two sonatas, Introduction and scherzino for cello solo, Suite for cello solo, pieces for cello: Elegie, Burlesque and Nearly Waltz, duet for alt-saxophone and cello, as well as cello parts in many ensemble works. Many of these compositions were recorded by Japanese company Triton. The piano part was played by Nikolai Kapustin himself. In 2008, Classical Records produced a CD with 2 cello sonatas and other works performed by Kapustin and Zagorinsky.
Since 2002, Alexander Zagorinsky has been playing in duet with the eminent Norwegian pianist Einar Steen-Nokleberg. This music duet has given very interesting concerts of chamber music in famous concert halls in Russia and other countries. Some of this music is recorded on CDs.
Alexander Zagorinsky has recorded CDs with such companies as Etcetera (the Netherlands), Triton (Japan), Delos and Naxos (USA), Sound Star (Germany) Vista Vera and Classical Records (Russia).