Customer Reviews

The Complete Piano Music of Scott Joplin [Box Set]

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(10)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

This is by far the best "budget" complete Joplin set I've ever come across. It's far superior to the Dick Zimmerman Laserlight set I have (which costs about three times as much!), and it's certainly better than those cheap sets that crop up in the bargain bins at Best Buy which feature poorly-recorded piano roll versions of these pieces. Each of the four CD's in this set runs about an hour, and each has 12-13 selections: rags, waltzes, and marches by Scott Joplin. Overall, I like the way Arpin plays these pieces. With very few exceptions, the tempos are good (not too fast), and personally, I'm not offended by Arpin's own embellishments. Within reasonable limits, I like to hear performers interpret music and make it "their own." I've played over two dozen Joplin rags myself, and find myself adding little grace notes, slightly changing a rhythm here or there, or adding other embellishments to avoid playing a piece exactly the same way every time I play it, otherwise, it can get boring after a while. Naturally, I limit my "additions" when performing this music for others unfamiliar with Joplin's rags, more as Joplin would have had it. This Arpin set, with all of his embellishments, therefore is especially good for someone who already owns a more straightforward recording of these pieces and who wishes to hear them played with a slightly different approach. For the Joplin newcomer, this is a good first set, but be aware when listening that Arpin has taken some liberties with the music--in most cases, it's not *exactly* as Joplin wrote it. Technically, the recording itself is very good. The piano has a nice "on stage" sound to it, but it's not lost in reverb. Each note is very clear, and the piano has a natural sounding balance. All things considered, I'm very happy with this set. And to get four CD's for less than the regular price of one CD, every ragtime fan should have this set. Highly recommended!

If you're a fledgling Joplin listener/player...don't buy this set. Instead, buy the Joshua Rifkin disc. The reason I say this is because Rifkin plays the pieces as written. You can follow along verbatim on the written page. This collection is full of ad-libs and ornaments. There are few consistent tempos throughout a piece. John Arpin is obviously full of energy and freedom of expression, but he strays too far away from the notes as written by the master. There's nothing wrong with playing Joplin's music that way (I ab-lib when playing "Maple Leaf Rag"), but I think it's unfair to bias people with your interpretation until they have properly heard the piece played as written.

Pros of this set:

-it is a complete collection of Joplin's rags
-"Bethena" is beautiful (but, it is hard to screw that one up)

Cons:

-No music from "Treemonisha" (Joplin's opera). The Rifkin set doesn't offer any music from the opera either.

-The bass drowns out the melody lines in many of the pieces.

A couple of years ago a friend posted me a tape of many players at a ragtime festival. One stood out for many reasons - John Arpin playing a piece by Hal Isbitz. Ever since I have meant to acquire more of this man's recordings but have only just got around to it.

In hearing Arpin I experienced the same effect I perceived when I first heard Angela Hewitt play the Forty-eight. They both have a very wide range within every pianistic effect. Detached through to legato, loud through to soft, sustained to crisp. Each puts this ability to work in slightly different ways, of course. Hewitt uses it to delineate voices and impart individual character to each piece while Arpin uses it more within each number, in combination with a judiciously applied and delightful elasticity of tempo. Although I have been playing many of these rags for years myself, I felt I was suddenly hearing them in colour instead of in black and white.

Arpin does add embellishments but they are quite in character and are neither intrusive nor excessive. Often they comprise rolling of octaves, substitution of thirds for single notes and insertion of the odd broken chord, but not in the same way each time. The bending of tempo (I don't think rubato is quite the correct word for what he does) is bound to annoy those who like their ragtime in strict piano-roll style, but personally I am inclined to be flexible. I never play classical pieces or my own works the same way from one day to the next and I do not expect a master professional to do so.

The quality of the recording is generally excellent. On a few occasions I found the treble notes a bit dull and in a couple of parts I heard odd high frequencies, which I assume were sympathetic vibrations of some sort produced during recording. These, however, are very minor things and do not detract in any way from the overall effect.

I am going to enjoy these CDs for a very long time. I also cannot help wondering what Arpin's classical playing sounds like. How I would like to hear his ideas in the Chopin studies !

This is a wonderful collection, all of Joplin's works on 4 CDs. Included here are his non-rag compositions, which are omitted from many smaller Joplin collections. Also here are his lesser rags, those that are not popularly or musically successful and will not often be listened to. But they are not without historical and musical interest, and belong in the library of any serious Joplin or ragtime devotee. Arpin's execution is generally good. He follows the proper tempo in most instances, does not overuse the pedal, and has good gain between the soft and the emphatic passages. But there are negatives to his playing. In some instances the tempo is off, generally on the fast side (his execution of Maple Leaf leaves one breathless), but sometimes too slow. But these variations are usually within permissible ranges. More objectionable are Arpin's embellishments. Joplin's admonition to play the music as written is universally ignored, and not without reason. One can become jaded from the repetitions and reprises unless an occasional bar (or even an entire strain) is played an octave higher for an echo effect, or a trill is inserted here and there. But Arpin carries this improvisation much too far. He is addicted to the trill, which appears in the most unlikely places. And Swipesy, a piece surely meant to be simple and straightforward, is given so many filigrees that it is barely recognizable. Simpler is not always better in ragtime, but Arkin too often buries the essence of the music under excessive ornamentation. And much as we all love Maple Leaf, the unwritten repeats drag it out much too long; the time would have been better filled by playing the strains, as actually written, more slowly. But despite these negatives, the playing is better than much of ragtime that is on the market today, and a truly complete collection of Joplin is much to be desired by any serious fan of the music.

I have been learning some ragtime and wanted to hear more to find other selections to learn. Listened to Maple Leaf Rag, my favorite, first and was disappointed. Listened to others and was more disappointed. Maple flies - much faster than anyone would play it, you can't make out some of the phrases. And talk about ad libs - Tempo, dynamics, embelishments, nuances - I really think he plays some wrong notes too because he's going so fast. It's really a poor recording - and that's just on Maple Leaf. Others with "intros" start quick and then there's a grand pause, not a rest, but nearly a five second break. It's hard to argue how Joplin would have played it, but this is hardly anything I want to try to imitate. The only qualitating factor is the number of songs for the price. A lot of variety of a poor interpretation is only worth 3 stars. if that. Look for Rifkin or a copy that is as written to listen to first, then go for the ad libs and "artistic interpretations"

I've listened to this set for years, and I'm still entirely pleased with it. To my mind and ear it's the best Joplin set around. Plus, the extremely cheap price is totally unbelievable: 4 full CDs (each over 1hr. duration) in 4 complete jewel boxes with liner notes for each box: this is the best bargan on the planet! The sound is great, and Arpin's art is superb. This is such a good deal that it really adds to the satisfaction.

This collection of Scott Joplin's piano music is outstanding. As a lover of ragtime which was a prelude to jazz, I am thoroughly enjoying this collection. If you are not a lover of jazz, you may be a lover of ragtime. Jazz can sometimes be grating on the nerves, whereas ragtime lifts the spirit.

Are these the best renditions of Scott Joplin's compositions?....probably not....Is each and every piece played measure for measure the way he wrote them?....Definately not.

That being said, if you want to have a great collection of Scott Joplin music performed, I must say, quite proficiently by John Arpin, at a bargain price ($12.00 for 4 discs / nearly 4 hours of music), then this set is for you.

In 1997, John Arpin stepped into the studio to record all 52 solo piano rags composed by the great African-American ragtime composer, Scott Joplin. Ragtime, as most people know now, is almost jazz but not jazz, a syncopated music influenced equally by the African-derived rhythms prevalent in Joplin's turn-of-the-century New Orleans and light classical music, predominantly French in origin. Soon would come jazz -Buddy Bolden (never recorded), King Oliver, Louis--but ragtime isn't jazz ... yet.

It is however exceptionally pleasing music, and eminently listenable --light classical music with a beat that cannot be denied. And herein lies on the virtues of this recording. Arpin's renditions downplay the jazzy, hot quality of, say, the popular version of Joplin's "The Entertainer" heard in the movie, The Sting. Arpin plays stately, not hot, which, I suspect, is the way Joplin conceived them.

All of the pieces are worth listening to but my favorites are "Leola" (on disc 2) and "Ragtime Dance" and "Gladiolus Rag" (which are on disc 3). I don't like Arpin's rendition of "Stoptime Rag." Compared to Joshua Rifkin's version (Scott Joplin Piano Rags, 1990), Arpin's playing is stiff and his foot beating stoptime rhythm along with the piano distracts from the music (but Rifkin's doesn't on his recording of the same rag). A cavil: either the recording engineer miked too close to the piano strings or the piano is defective because on certain chords, the piano strings reverberate in a faintly annoying way. Still the music is good, the playing respectful, and it is a pleasure to settle back and enjoy so much Joplin at one sitting.

At$12.98 (Amazon.com) for four CDs --five hours of music!-- this album deserves to be in everyone's collection.

]I have loved Joshua Rifkin's [[ASIN:B000005IYF Scott Joplin: Piano Rags]interpretations of Joplin's Rags for (to date myself) decades, and love his interpretations. But it's just one one album. And I loved Joplin. And I saw this: all his piano music, price more than reasonable. And asked myself: How bad can it be?
Answer: not bad. In fact excellent. I don't like a very, very few of Arpin's readings: Maple Leaf Rag, as some people have already reported, is done for speed. It was typical of the time, and I think Arpin did it as an exhibit of what people often heard. But Maple Leaf is an isolated example. For the most part, the tempos are leisurely, with beautifully orchestrated mini-hesitations and accelerations. Magnetic Rag is a test piece: it's one of the best pieces of music ever written by an American, and Arpin has it totally. Likewise Solace. Hesitater, go for it: you'll be glad you did. You may not like 100 percent, but you'll be very happy anyway.