Customer Reviews

Best of Scott Joplin: 50 Ragtime Favorites

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We got these CDs to inspire our daughter who is learning to play abridged versions of a couple rags on the piano.

Perhaps we could have guessed from the price and from the information, or lack thereof, on this Amazon site. Overall, these CDs seem to be some kind of cheap copy. The sound quality is really bad. With the CDs there is no information given about who is performing the music, where, when and on what instrument. In fact, no information is given at all but the names of the tunes.

I guess its a matter of "you get what you pay for", but we wouldn't listen to this low quality even if it was free. It makes our stereo sound like the speakers on a laptop computer or a 1960s $8 AM transister radio. Once you're listening on a modern stereo you don't want the $8.00 radio sound, no matter the CD price.

The playing seems good. If you have the volume so low that you can't hear all the notes distincly it sounds pretty good.

The internet sample of the reputed-to-be-low-fidelity CD reprint of the Josh Rifkin Nonesuch 1970s LP recording seems to be higher quality.

I guess if we found out that these were taken from Edison recordings of Joplin playing we'd tolerate the quality for the authenticity. But that doesn't seem to be what we are hearing.

If you like ragtime, you should like this CD. Although the sound quality seemed a little inferior, the quality of the songs was above average I thought. The tempo of the songs was superior to that of Joanne Castle's songs which I think are played too fast. I think the CD was definitely worth the money.

As the title says, this wonderful package has three CDs containing a total of 50 wonderful tunes written by the incomparable Scott Joplin (1868-1917). Played by one piano, and in just the way that you would expect from this music, the music is wonderfully moving. Admittedly, when I listened to the CDs in my car, it was noticeable that something was lacking in quality. But, that said, my family and I do enjoy these CDs (especially my son, who is taking piano lessons), and highly recommend them to you.

I picked this up after craving to hear anything by Scott Joplin. I immediately put Disc 1 in my car and sunk into the musical nirvana that is Scott Joplin. Sure the quality might not be 'top notch,' but unless you are really picky, there wont be a problem. The songs sound fine and you can enjoy them, and thats all that matters. Get this, its all the Scott Joplin you will ever need.