It so happened today that I was poking the ABRSM ( http://www.abrsm.org/ ) out of idle interest. They have syllabuses to download, so I grabbed the current piano syllabus, and what did I see in list C at Grade 8 than Kapustin's sonatina op.100?

I approve. (Having known nothing of Kapustin until my wife picked up a load of scores on the cheap when the local music shop was having a clear-out; most of it way too hard for me, but ...) I'm sure some of the piano society regulars will approve as well. As, no doubt will MuST ... from what I hear, Kapustin himself would view the whole thing with a modesty bordering on indifference. However, if this is something that helps bring his music to a wider audience, I'm sure even the composer couldn't think too far amiss of it

Kapustin's Sonatina is great fun, and not really hard. By all means go for it ! One of his few pieces that are possible for an amateur to play well, and a great opportunity to dip your toes in the jazzy style. Some of his Jazz preludes can be an option too.
Lucky you to have obtained a bunch of scores for a good price. They're very expensive to buy, and not actually of great quality for the price (not the music, I mean).

I seached for Kapustin on www.scorser.com and tonnes of scores came tumbling out. I did not downoad any, though, part out pf principle and part for personal reasons.

Oh, that site was closed down last time I tried to get on it. I'm glad to see it's back up!

edit: actually, it's not the site that opens when you click on the above link, but the site that opens when you click certain pieces. Classic Scores. That's the one I'm happy to see is still up.

That particular sonatina op.100 doesn't happen to be among the scores we picked up; I was just interested to see that Kapustin has reached the hallowed ivory halls of the Associated Board. (OK, they're not that bad these days.) Although my wife tells me that she remembers seeing his music in the exam syllabus before. (That might be how we got hold of it; sometimes when an obscure composer makes it onto a board syllabus, a music shop will get a selection of their music in in case they suddenly become wildly popular. Of course if they don't, the shop then ends up with a load of stuff they have to shift on the cheap.)

Indeed we were fortunate. His music is not the cheapest and the easiest to get hold of if you live west of Moscow. Not, as I said, that I'm likely to ever be able to play most of it. I'm looking into his B minor prelude op.53 no.6 at the moment, but it'll be a while before I can get through the thing even slowly, so don't expect a recording any time soon

I placed a piece here which is by a little-known composer who made it to Trinity's syllabus. Maybe they choose such works not as a mark of recognition, but hoping that by selecting little-played works, students will be less influenced by existing performances.

Wow, good choice. I love this one ! It's one of the more straightforward from the set but still a big handful. I have vague plans for recording this and some others but I'm not nearly halfway a decent play-through.

I was at the house of my sister-in-law and her (as of a week ago) husband, and spotted the preludes op.53 book on the shelf. Perhaps Kapustin is not so obscure as all that. He (meta-brother-in-law) plays proper jazz piano, though, so it's the sort of thing he'd like. Me, I can't improv to save my life, which is another reason I like Kapustin ... it's great jazzy stuff, but more to the point the notes are all written down so I know what to play. (Which doesn't mean I can actually play them, of course.)

Since we last spoke, I got 53.6 to where I can sort of bash through it at 2/3 speed, but it wasn't really improving so I've shelved it for a while. However, since I obviously can't leave well enough alone, I've started looking into the last movement of his sonata no. 6. Which isn't as difficult as it looks, although again I'm not expecting to get it up to performance standard any time soon. If I can get a decent play through at around 120 I won't be too upset.

None of these two are really hard compared to most of Kapustin's output but still a lot of work. The 6th Sonata is probably the most accessible (and least hectic) of his Sonatas - not that I heard them all. I'll be interested to see how you get on with it.

Is that a gentle hint to put my keyboard where my mouth is? I can get through most of it slowly now, although my accuracy leaves a bit to be desired and there's not much in the way of interpretation, of course. If he'd marked the thing at crotchet=120, I'd have no problem

Just for interest, and on condition that you don't laugh at me, I'm attaching a run through of the 3rd movement of the 6th sonata I did today. It's pretty far from a performance, and still has some hesitations and wrong notes even at 3/4 speed, but it should give you some idea. Comments welcome.

Good work Jim. I must say I did not hear (m)any wrong notes but it's been a year or two since I last played thought his one. I think you are creating a good solid base on which you can build a real performance. Presently it sounds rather lackadaisical rather than exhilarating and it does not have the required fullness of sound - partly to blame on the instrument I guess. I hope you can record it on a good grand when you're up to speed and feel free to let your hair down.

This sonata is so great. This makes me want to pick it up straight away again. From the several Kapustin Sonatas I've heard this was the only one I felt I wanted to play (hell, the only one I actually could play after some good hard work).

Thanks Chris. I am, of course, concentrating on the notes rather than the interpretation at the moment, but I do hope I can carry on building on what I have. It may take me a long time to get up to speed though. I have promised myself that I will not put the metronome above 120 until the notes are solid, but this music is such fun to play that it does tend to run away with you if you are not very careful It reminds me of Chopin in some ways--I am thinking in particular of something like that noodly stretto at the end of the F minor nocturne in the quasi-improvisational way it flows off the fingers. And like Chopin, once you figure out how it goes under the fingers it flows very naturally, and yet this still in no way whatsoever makes it easy

I am hardly a Kapustin expert but I'd say yes, you'r eon the way to success.


What I like about Kapustin is that it is difficult but not for the sake of it. Not once does he make things harder than they have to be, and the harder something is, the bigger the rewards (which can't be said of every composer). And yes, it does lie well under the fingers - once they're trained enough.

I completely understand that statement lol .I like Kapustin's jazz improvisation but there are pianist that don't like his composition and style. His music isn't innovative in the same way a Stockhausen is innovative, but i didn't know innovation wasn't really innovative unless it was kosher approved .