Customer Reviews

Piano Rags: Essential Classics

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

 

 

When Scott Joplin died in 1917 of advanced syphillis, he was penniless, frustrated artistically, and had seen the last days of the ragtime craze pass by. Who would have imagined that today, nearly 90 years after his death, his music would be taken much more seriously than it was in his own time, and would continue to delight and astonish performers and audiences around the world? This is Joplin's legacy, and it exceeds that of hundreds of other composers whose music has come and gone in the years since his death.

Not bad for a man who aspired to critical respectability above popular adulation, and who wrote three operas (including "Treemonisha") in the hope of attaining respect among "serious" musicians. Joplin's unbelievably resourceful melodic gift, his innovative rhythmic instinct, his utterly original harmonic palette, and his superb talents as an arranger have made his music immortal, and even such a renowned musician as Theodore Leschetizky (who trained more great pianists than any other teacher of his time) played and admired his music. Maybe he was more respectable than he knew.

Roy Eaton's renditions of fifteen of Joplin's most famous rags are wonderfully vibrant and insightful. This is a first-rate recording at an unbeatable price. Need I say more?

Roy Eaton plays these pieces with much style and generally much vigor. Though often times the approach reminds one of recorded performances of Chopin waltzes or mazurkas, the beat is never lost: Eaton is faithful to the spirit of ragtime.

The works present on this disc are perceptively chosen. I believe this is enough ragtime to satisfy most anyone. Joplin occasionally hearkens back to earlier American composers such as Louis Moreau Gottschalk (particularly in The Chrysanthemum). Aside from the famed Maple Leaf Rag and The Entertainer, other works give equal pleasure, such as Original Rags, The Search-Light Rag and Solace (A Mexican Serenade that can be called nothing other than truly American).

These Joplin Rags are enjoyable from any perspective. After dipping into this set or one like it, I recommend looking into older American composers such as Gottschalk.

At the end of the XIX, while Vienna danced Strauss Waltzes, a mature Sibelius extracted the musical vein of his beloved Finland, Bartok searched untiringly the seminal roots of his loved Hungary, Bruckner paved the way with his cosmic sounds and the Frenchmen delighted the Belle Époque, a new kind of music called ragtime swept over America. The imminent arrival of the New Century seemed to bring within new airs and renovated inspiration all over the world.

Ragtime grew up in cafes, saloons and sporting houses. It was music for entertainment and solace evasion. What I mostly love in this genre is its radiant optimism, surprising melodic twists and a sort of naïve taste that constituted the perfect link for the Charleston ten years after its domain began to decline.

Don't think it over. If you love this music, you will delight this record for a long, long time as I did when I acquired it.

Don't miss it.

I recently performed in the play "Intimate Apparel" by Lynn Nottage. The time period reflected ragtime music. Amazon had exactly the music I needed to enhance my role for that time period. I was very pleased with the speedy delivery of the music. The quality of sound was quite satisfactory.