The embattled critic is, of course, generally off the hook when it comes to comparisons vis-a-vis repertoire such as this, but I do recommend this recording to devotees of Gershwin, Billy Mayerl or anyone who had the good sense to buy the two intriguing jazz/contemporary takes on Chopin by the Jagodzinski Trio and Leszek Moz•dz•er released on Opus 111 (OPS2013 and OPS2014).
Kapustin, born in 1937, studied under Goldenweiser at the Moscow Conservatoire and subsequently divided his time between composing for the classical idiom and enjoying what seems to be a fairly high-octane career as a pianist on the Russian jazz circuit – the very existence of which may be less than obvious to many – and occasionally abroad. As Osborne’s lively and lucid booklet-notes make clear (although his bracketing jazz with ‘more popular musics’ is something of a can of worms), the musical language of jazz has informed Kapustin’s work to a considerable degree.
Over the past 20 years or so, much of the Russian jazz which has found a public elsewhere has been of the more radical kind – Ganelin, Kuryokhin, the Arkhangelsk group – but Kapustin is not of this ilk. Rather, his music is almost relentlessly agreeable, occasionally floridly sentimental but certainly engaging and often witty, with Steven Osborne picking up on the latter aspect particularly astutely. The recording quality is pleasingly spacious.'