Kapustin has found the classical sonata form to be a congenial and pliable vehicle for composition. His initial efforts in this genre are four-movement works that literally gush with unbridled creativity. The three-movement Piano Sonata No 6, Op 62 (1991), by contrast, subscribes to a more circumscribed game plan, and seems positively Haydnesque in relation to the first two sonatas’ Beethovenian ambitions. Its opening movement (Allegro ma non troppo) adheres to the classic Sonata-Allegro paradigm, and derives most of its material from the jaunty main theme, whose first five notes, coincidentally or not, are identical to the first five of Eddie Harris’s renowned jazz standard
Freedom Jazz Dance. The central Grave movement exemplifies Kapustin’s gift for lyrical introspection and melodic poignancy, and the zestful finale commences in the spirit of a tarantella, while detouring through the alleyways of boogie-woogie and stride.
from notes by Jed Distler © 2004
