Dear Friends

We all know Kapustin's piano music - but what about his chamber works?

On 15 November we will publish the sheet music for three of his pieces
for cello and piano. These are ideal for recitals, and are a valuable
addition to any accomplished cellist's repertoire simply because of
Kapustin's style - there's nothing else quite like them!

Elegy op 96 (M 708036234 / £ 5.80)
A solemn, pensive composition, full of nostalgia. The beautiful main
theme, played by the cello after a short piano introduction, is
developed into gorgeous slow jazz sequence alternating between the two
instruments. Kapustin gives the music plenty of breathing space and
everyone falls asleep towards the end, until...

Burlesque op 97 (M 708036241 / £ 6.60)
This piece is a complete hoot. It starts with two lines of frantic
solo cello music (arco) which switches to pizzicato as the piano picks
up the theme. The work parodies contrasting jazz styles, abruptly
juxtaposing a jazz idiom with a lyrical, romantic line while all the
time displaying a wonderful sense of humour. Towards the end, cello
and piano toss the jazz theme back and forth before both players slam
the door shut with a bang.

Nearly Waltz op 98 (M 708036258 / £ 5.80)
One of my personal favourites, and one of the composer's less "jazzy"
pieces. Nearly Waltz has the tempo and feel of a waltz, with a lilting
cello theme accompanied by a driving, rhythmic piano part, but for the
first few pages the time signature alternates almost randomly between
5/4 and 3/4. After a central sequence in regular waltz tempo, Kapustin
dashes our hopes by reverting to the disarming rhythm of the opening
section and (unusually for a waltz) finishes the piece with the music
slowly dying away into the highest of registers...

Do you want to listen to a performance of Nearly Waltz? Click on one
of the email links below, or copy and paste it into your address bar,
and we'll send a recording to you by email free of charge - it's
performed by Alexander Zagorinsky (cello) and the composer himself
(piano).

Windows Media Player (2.56mB) wmp@...
RealPlayer (3.87mB) rp@...

I hope you and your cellist friends will enjoy playing these great
compositions.

With my best wishes


Tim