Piano Quintet op 89

Kapustin wrote his Piano Quintet in 1998 during a particularly fruitful and creative period in his career. In form the work is completely traditional, with an expansive and imaginative opening Allegro followed by a spiky Scherzo that envelops a lilting Trio - which the scherzo never completely leaves alone. The slow movement is one of Kapustin's most beautiful creations (with surprisingly little for the pianist to do), but what follows has to be one of the most astonishing five minutes in chamber music literature - a jazz-rock classic, innocently marked Allegro non troppo, that leaves audiences - but not necessarily the players - begging for an encore.