Customer Reviews

Complete Piano Rags (Dover Music for Piano)

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While it's true that all the piano pieces composed by Scott Joplin alone and which he called rags are contained in this collection, some piano pieces he collaborated on or didn't call rags are not. Following is a list of pieces that are in SCOTT JOPLIN -- Collected Piano Works (published by the New York Public Library) but missing from this volume:

Great Crush Collision
Combination March
Harmony Club Waltz
Augustan Club Waltz
Cleopha
March Majestic
The Chrusanthemum
Bethena - A Concert Waltz
Rosebud
Binks' Waltz
Antoinette
Solace
Pleasant Moments
Lily Queen (composed with Arthur Marshall)
Sensation (written by Joseph Lamb, arranged by Joplin)

However, it does contain the following which are not in the Collected volume:

Searchlight Rag
Roseleaf Rag
Fig Leaf Rag

Complete Piano Rags is a great book to play from. Any pianist of modest ability should get great enjoyment from these pieces once they figure out the syncopation. Ragtime is a great crowd-pleaser, too. Complete Piano Rags also shows the covers from the original sheet music for the rags, which are amusing in some cases. Like every other Dover edition, this book is a good value at a low price, and won't fall apart through use. The only thing this book doesn't have that I wish it did is Joplin's "Solace: a Mexican Serenade," which isn't a rag, but is still very beautiful (can be heard on one of J. Rifkin's records). If you do buy this book, I recommend playing "The Magnetic Rag," and "The Fig Leaf Rag." "Elite Syncopations" has a cool ending section, too.

This is a wonderful collection of Scott Joplin's rags. It includes all the sheet music covers in black and white, and the music itself is a copy from the original publishers' edition for all 38 of Joplin's rags, plus the School of Ragtime. Any ragtime fan should have this book! Here's a complete list of the pieces in this book: Original Rags, Maple Leaf Rag, Swipesy, Sunflower Slow Drag, Peacherine Rag, The Easy Winners, The Strenuous Life, The Ragtime Dance, A Breeze From Alabama,

Elite Syncopations, The Entertainer, Something Doing, Weeping Willow, Palm Leaf Rag, The Favorite, The Sycamore, The Cascades, Leola, Eugenia, Gladiolus Rag, Searchlight Rag, The Nonpareil, Rose Leaf Rag, Heliotrope Bouquet, School of Ragtime, Fig Leaf Rag, Sugar Cane, Wall Street Rag, Pine Apple Rag, Country Club, Paragon Rag, Stoptime Rag, Euphonic Sounds, Felicity Rag, Kismet Rag, Scott Joplin's New Rag, Magnetic Rag, Reflection Rag,and Silver Swan Rag.

Before you purchase, note the title - The Complete Piano RAGS of Scott Joplin. It may seem a bit purist to exclude his other pieces, but many of them, including his marches and songs, are rather commonplace for their time period. Two unfortunate omissions are Solace, which is actually a Tango, although it is in rag format, and Chrysanthemum, which is an intermezzo, although many in rag circles think it qualifies as a Joplin rag. Aside from these, this is a good substitute for the hard to find Complete Works of Scott Joplin from the New York Public Library. Also included are the original covers and some information on Joplin and the pieces.

Scott Joplin was not called the King of Ragtime for nothing! This book contains all of Scott Joplin's 38 rags plus his "School of Ragtime" sheet music. Like other reviewers, I was disappointed by the omission of "Solace," "Crush Collision March," "Binks Waltz," "A Real Slow Drag," and some of Joplin's other great works, but alas, they are not technically "rags." The book is well printed from original sheet music, so the user gets a sense of what this music looked like when it was originally published. I like the way Dover reproduces original sheet music covers along with the music itself. With the exception of "Maple Leaf Rag" which is very "cramped" and difficult to read (as it was in the original edition, I assume), all others are very well presented in an easy to read size and spacing. Of course, the music contained within these covers is nothing short of spectacular! And for under ten dollars, this book is amazingly affordable. My only complaint is that my copy took a while to "break" the spine so that it opens flat on the piano. For a long time, I had trouble with pages flipping while I was trying to play, but still, a small price to pay for the treasures inside!

The book is very good, I agree with the other reviewers. I would only add, don't make the mistake I did. Two of my favorites, "Solace" and "A Real Slow Drag" are not included. I guess they didn't fit the criteria for this collection. Another reviewer was kind enough to list the entire contents. I should have paid more attention!

The first follow up to the three larger Dover editions of collected ragtime, this is the one that really smokes, and has rags that simply will not be ignored. Not only are three Joplin greats part of the package, but the well known Dill Pickles, Wild Cherries, Temptation Rag, the incomparable Entertainer's Rag, and Scott's masterpiece, Grace and Beauty. You can find many of them on my site as well, if you want to hear them first. The three Joplin pieces alone would run in the hundreds of dollars in today's thriving collectible sheet music market. So if you can deal with the covers not printed in color, you'll be duly entertained, and hopefully entertaining, when perusing the contents of this book that you should be buying instead of just reading this rambling review!!!

Copy and paste (at the Amazon search box) these ISBNs for the original books: 0871042762 "Complete Works" or 0871042428 "Collected Works". You get twice as many Joplin pieces plus loads of biographical and other information!! They were first published by the New York Public Library by Vera Brodsky Lawrence. "Complete Works" is the later edition having 3 additional Joplin rags discovered since "Collected Works" was published.

I like the book. It is a good collection of piano rags for the intermediate (or better) pianist. It also contains interesting sheet music covers from the original publisher. The intro contains a short set of exercizes teaching you how to play ragtime (composed by Joplin). All in all, a good collection of music and fun to play.

These are clear copies of original editions of a composer that was pivotal and key in the development of American Music. Above and beyond that, they are uplifting pieces that are fun to play and enjoyed by all.