Customer Reviews

World's Greatest Piano Rags

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Since I'd never heard of Richard Dowling, I had modest expectations, but I like to listen to all the ragtime pianists. (Years ago I borrowed pianos to play "closet" ragtime myself, just to get at those gorgeous chords of Joplin and Joe Lamb). Well, Dowling surprised me with his lyrical, lovely playing! He's a real discovery, and a favorite, along with Dick Hyman. I like also Max Morath for his bouncy and congenial playing & singing. So you give Dowling a chance, and I hope he records more tunes from the large ragtime repertory.

This is a great collection of rags of various styles. The Graceful Ghost is just a wonderful flowing rag bordering on classical, and at the other end is the very fun Entertainer's Rag. Richard Bowling plays them all well. The three Zez Confrey cuts are not to my liking so much, but the rest is a set of play over and over things.

I believe I reviewed this CD already; try to remember what I said. The Disk is a delightful surprise for the ragtime expert crowd, except would have like it even better if the arranger chose "Elite Syncopations" (Joplin) with a little paino keyboard rolling to accompany it. The Eubie Blake, Zez Confrey, and Joe Lamb Rags are delightful to weary ears. Listen to this CD, and forget some of the rebarbative commercial trash we have to listen to otherwise...Robert K Barclay

It's always great to discover a pianst that treats ragtime with the respect it deserves.

Richard Dowling's performance is elegant and he plays most of these pieces at a palatable tempo (i.e., not at breakneck speed), so you can really savor the unique beauty of each tune.

As for the repertoire, we are given a generous collection, some which seem to be mandatory inclusions (Maple Leaf Rag), but mostly these are tunes you won't find in every other ragtime collection.

For me, the Graceful Ghost rag was a real treat, as I love this piece and have only heard it recorded once before, by William Bolcom himself.

Oddly, my least favorite in this recording was Dowling's take on the Maple Leaf, probably because it appears on just about every other ragtime collection I own.

As a whole though, this is a real treat for ragtime piano fans.