The Eight Concert Études op.40 were written in 1984, and demonstrate Kapustin's compositional style at its broadest and most inventive. Each study presents the pianist with different, and often considerable, technical challenges (as of course befits the genre), in many, fascinating ways. The pieces tap into a whole range of musical languages - jazz, blues, ragtime, boogie-woogie, stride, cocktail-bar nonchalance - and are full of energy and excitement, even in the most disarmingly tuneful passages.
