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Pianist Sachiko Kato plays the works of Beethoven, Barber, and Kapustin You can purchase Sachiko's CD through Amazon.com now! LODWING VAN BEETHOVEN [ 1770-1827 ] Sonata No. 32 In C Minor, OP. 111 I. Maestoro - Allegro Con Brio Ed Appassionato ( 10:51 ) II. Arietta: Adagio Molto Semplice E Cantabile ( 19:12 ) SAMUEL BARBER [ 1910-1981 ] Sonata For Piano, OP. 26 I. Allegro Energico ( 8:27 ) II. Allegro Vivace E Leggero ( 2:23 ) III. Adagio Mesto ( 6:53 ) IV. Fuga: Allegro Con Spirito ( 5:01 )( 1MB ) NICOLAI KAPUSTIN [ 1937- ] From Eight Jazz Concert Etudes OP.40 No.1 Prelude ( 2:13 ) No.2 Reverie ( 4:07 ) No.3 Toccatina ( 2:19 ) No.7 Intermezzo ( 4:28 ) No.8 Finale ( 2:55 ) Total Time : 68:52 Recorded in Boston, August 11 and 12, 2000 Words from the Pianist I have attempted in this compilation to combine one of Beethoven's greatest masterpieces with "cool" jazz compositions by relatively unknown composer, Kapustin. I was uncertain at first if a listener could make the sudden transition from a profound to a funky mood. But I realized that our modern world is full of just such juxtapositions, provided by the constantly changing stimuli of television and the Internet. Everything is available now, anytime, anywhere! Each culture is influencing other cultures at much faster speed than ever imagined before. Since art reflects the society in which it strives, it is more diversified today than ever, at the same time the boundary of arts is becoming more and more blurred, all because of the fact the world is becoming smaller and smaller! For an example, so-called "cross-over" music is becoming trendy these days. I think that "cross-over" always existed in the history of music, classical music influencing popular genre, vice versa. It is well-known that the composers like Beethoven and Mozart often borrowed from folk music. It just was much slower process than now. What I want to say is that music we play and listen to in this modern era is very much diversified but at the same time related to each other. Kapustin's work itself draws heavily from the world of classical music as well as jazz, a musical idiom that itself is the fruit of the fusion of classical and African-American musical traditions. Barber's work may be representative of the modern languages of dissonance and complex rhythm yet is deeply rooted in the Romantic tradition and is also clearly influenced by jazz. Beethoven himself did not create his work from a vacuum but built on the music styles that came before him. And am I the only one to suspect that Beethoven's third variation of the second movement in this Sonata anticipated the birth of jazz which followed 70 to 80 years later? It is marvelous to see how composers of varying styles influenced each other and their musical ideas stay alive in our souls, no matter when their works were actually composed.