Pizzicato
Nikolai Kapustin’s piano music is certainly entertaining, but it is more than that. For one thing, it is extremely challenging technically, and it would certainly be wrong to emphasize only its jazz character. The structures are often very classical, and all of his music is carefully and meticulously crafted.
The Eight Concert Etudes are light-hearted, melodious, and often very virtuosic works, in which it is somewhat difficult to understand the meaning of the individual titles such as Rêverie or Pastorale, even though Ophelia Gordon certainly makes an effort to differentiate between the moods. The melodious Intermezzo and the energetic Finale are particularly enjoyable. Another highlight is the hectic and restless Paraphrase on Dizzy Gillespie’s Manteca.
Ophelia Gordon plays eight pieces from the twenty-four jazz-style Preludes, and she does so with admirable ease: the rhythmic accuracy and richness of color are captivating.
Unlike other performers such as Osborne and Hamelin, Gordon approaches these scores more from the perspective of a jazz pianist than a classical one. However, she also knows how to avoid neglecting other characteristics. The result is a truly great album and an important one in the discography.
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