A MAN OF TWO WORLDS: CLASSICAL AND JAZZ INFLUENCES IN NIKOLAI KAPUSTIN S TWENTY-FOUR PRELUDES, OP. 53. Randall Creighton SCHOOL OF MUSIC AND DANCE

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1 A MAN OF TWO WORLDS: CLASSICAL AND JAZZ INFLUENCES IN NIKOLAI KAPUSTIN S TWENTY-FOUR PRELUDES, OP. 53 By Randall Creighton Copyright Randall Creighton 2009 A Document Submitted to the Faculty of the SCHOOL OF MUSIC AND DANCE In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements For the Degree of DOCTOR OF MUSICAL ARTS WITH A MAJOR IN MUSIC In the Graduate College THE UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA 2009

2 2 THE UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA GRADUATE COLLEGE As members of the Final Examination Committee, we certify that we have read the document prepared by Randall Creighton entitled A MAN OF TWO WORLDS: CLASSICAL AND JAZZ INFLUENCES IN NIKOLAI KAPUSTIN S TWENTY-FOUR PRELUDES, OP. 53 and recommend that it be accepted as fulfilling the requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Musical Arts Rex Woods Date Paula Fan Date Lisa Zdechlik Date Final approval and acceptance of this document is contingent upon the candidate s submission of the final copy of the document to the Graduate College. I hereby certify that I have read this document prepared under my direction and recommend that it be accepted as fulfilling the requirement. Rex Woods Date

3 3 STATEMENT BY THE AUTHOR This document has been submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for an advanced degree at the University of Arizona and is deposited in the University Library to be made available to borrowers under rules of the Library. Brief quotations from this document are allowable without special permission, provided that accurate acknowledgement of source is made. Requests for permission for extended quotation from or reproduction of this manuscript in whole or in part may be granted by the copyright holder. SIGNED:

4 4 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to thank the members of my committee Rex Woods, Paula Fan, and Lisa Zdechlik for their help, not only with the lecture-recital and DMA document, but for all of their help during my degree program. Their support has been both invaluable and very much appreciated. I would also like to acknowledge kind permission to use extensive examples from Kapustin s Twenty-Four Preludes, Op. 53 granted by Tim Gill at Music Trading Co. Ltd.

5 5 DEDICATION I would like to dedicate this document to Victoria Neve, my major professor during my master s program at San Francisco State University, and Rex Woods, my major professor during my doctoral program at the University of Arizona. Your belief in my abilities has been a sustaining influence in my life one that I hope to repay through similar instructional service. Thanks also go to Keith Sklower, who awakened my musical interests at a time when I thought that the continual learning process of being a musician was, for me, a thing of the past. Finally, to my parents Andrew J. and Gloria P. Creighton for your support of my constantly changing goals.

6 TABLE OF CONTENTS 6

7 LIST OF EXAMPLES 7

8 LIST OF TABLES 8

9 LIST OF FIGURES 9

10 10 ABSTRACT Nikolai Kapustin was born in 1937 and has been active as a composer since the late 1950s, though he has only become relatively well known in the West since around Despite the fact that he has spent his whole life in Russia, Kapustin was strongly influenced by American jazz and his compositional style has always been a combination of the formal elements of classical music and the stylistic elements of jazz. Critics have all commented on Kapustin s astute blend of classical form and jazz style, mentioning the influence of Russian composers Rachmaninov and Scriabin, while also noting echoes of Art Tatum, Oscar Peterson, and Chick Corea. The Twenty-Four Preludes, Op. 53 were published in 1988 and follow the key sequence set forth by the Chopin Preludes, Op. 28. These preludes are as virtuosic and ambitious as those of Chopin, Scriabin, and Rachmaninov. A close examination of the score of the Twenty-Four Preludes, Op. 53 reveals that Kapustin uses several methods of thematic organization, including variations of scoring, thematic transformation, and spinning out the germ of an idea in a more improvisatory way and that these techniques can be traced directly to the music of Rachmaninov, Scriabin, Liszt, and Beethoven. There are examples of ternary, rondo, and monothematic forms, and the ternary Preludes in particular contain elements similar to sonata-allegro form. Kapustin s musical language is infused with the harmonic and rhythmic elements of jazz, with ample use of added note chords in sophisticated voicings. The echoes of various jazz artists are represented by his skilled use of pianistic

11 11 techniques like stride and walking bass along with a broad range of harmonic and rhythmic devices that span the stylistic range from Swing and Novelty piano, to Bebop and contemporary Jazz-rock. Though he is clearly familiar with standard jazz harmonic devices, he uses them sparingly, preferring instead to use modulation and developmental models that are grounded in classical music practice. From modern jazz, he takes quartal, pentatonic, and diminished harmony, along with highly chromatic two-voiced textures similar to those used by jazz artists from the 1960s onward, particularly Miles Davis.