This content was created by The Piano Pod with Yukimi Song. This content was uploaded by The Piano Pod with Yukimi Song. This is a YouTube video titled "Jazz vs. Classical: The Kapustin Debate Uncovered" (posted 2025-02-26). It contains an interview-style episode featuring Ophelia Gordon speaking with a host (labeled SPEAKER A). The discussion centers on composer Nikolai Kapustin and how his piano music blurs jazz and classical boundaries, reactions from jazz musicians versus classical players, questions about improvisation versus composed music, and Ophelia's studies at Trinity Laban. The excerpt ends with a promotional call to follow The Piano Pod with Yukimi Song.
In case you missed our latest episode featuring Ophelia Gordon.
So if I, if I come from more of a jazz perspective, because what I have found very interesting is most of the people that have connected with me online have actually been jazz musicians, and they, they are the ones that— what is this? Interesting. Are you improvising? Have you written that? I'm like, no, no, no, no, no. But isn't that fascinating that actually more jazz musicians are picking up on the playing than classical. So it definitely speaks to them immediately. But there's hardly anyone really— I mean, it's becoming more popular, but most of the jazz musicians that I have encountered and worked with even have never heard of Kapustin either. But they're kind of like, they perk up, you know, they go, 'Hang on, who is this?' Like, 'I think I might need to actually find out who this person is,' because it really resonates with their language. And I think that's why, um, they are now picking up more about it because of the use of the rhythm, because of the use of the heart. And, um, I'm currently doing a master's at a conservatoire called Trinity Laban in London, and I'm doing both classical and jazz.
Really? Yeah. And amazingly, in my class—
yes, in piano. Oh my God. Yeah. So I, I— but what I'm loving is that I'm taking the jazz professors the Kapustin. They'd never heard of him, but they go, 'Oh my God, like, what is this? This is incredible.' And they're very honest about the fact that they say, 'I don't know if I'd ever play this.' I don't— they say, 'I don't know if I'd ever be able to play this, and I don't know if necessarily it would feel— I'd feel comfortable playing it.' But they actually say, to them, this is jazz, which is really interesting. So I've found myself in lots of interesting conversations about is Kapustin jazz or classical. And yes, it's very— it's kind of really straight away, it is classic, you know. Okay, if we, if we respect the tradition of playing written music, and also a lot of the interpretation, a lot of the composition has classical elements to it. But when I play it to a jazz musician, they say it's jazz. And then I open up the question to them, But hang on, what about improvisation? Isn't improvisation jazz? And there is so much jazz now that isn't improvised.
Isn't? No. Follow and subscribe to The Piano Pod with Yukimi Song with traditional meets innovation in classical piano.
