Steven Osborne's recordings of Kapustin's Preludes in a Jazz Style
(Op. 54) in my opinion sometimes even surpass Kapustin's own
interpretation (for example Op. 54 No. 23), and Marc-André Hamelin's
performance of the Concert Etudes (Op. 40) is dazzling, bringing out
what Kapustin's slower renditions show less clearly, especially in the
faster numbers such as Op. 40 No. 5.

But I think there's a highly cerebral component to Kapustin's music
that pianists without Kapustin's highly rhythmic style and clear
accentation tend to miss. (Compare his performances of Op. 108 and Op.
118 with those of Kawakami Masahiro, for example.) While indeed most
of his commercial recordings are not published by Western labels, it
is at least now possible to import reprints from HMV Japan, I think,
as they have started publishing them recently. You'll need to know a
smattering of Japanese to navigate the site (hmv.co.jp), though -
search for カプースチン ("kapuusuchin"), for
one thing.

However, what I think Rob was originally asking was whether there were
any recordings of live performances of his. As far as I'm aware, the
majority of his piano opus was composed after his performing days, and
he now mainly keeps to himself, so if you're looking for live
recordings you may only find things with very low opus numbers. I have
found a couple jazz band numbers on Youtube, for example. There are
also a couple videos on Youtube of him recording in the Triton studios
(of Op. 66 No. 2 and Op. 54 No. 11, if I recall correctly), if you
haven't heard his own performances before.

-fs

--- In kapustin@yahoogroups.com, David Lewis <udtv@...> wrote:
>
> I do believe he has made commercial recordings of his works, but
they are generally not available in the West, at least not yet. I have
read that he is the best interpreter of his own music. Perhaps someone
with more knowledge of the subject will post here.
>
> Uncle Dave
>
> --- On Sat, 1/10/09, Roby <hammyplay@...> wrote:
>
> From: Roby <hammyplay@...>
> Subject: [Nicolai Kapustin Discussion Group] recordings query
> To: kapustin@yahoogroups.com
> Date: Saturday, January 10, 2009, 6:45 PM
>
>
>
>
>
>
> Both classical and jazz pianophiles are renowned for recording live
> recitals wherever possible. Is it unusual that nothing seems to have
> surfaced for Nikolai K? Did he give solo piano recitals at all or was
> it just with band or trio? Is there a chance that some broadcast
> material may exist?
> Thanks,
>
> Rob C
>