The Entertainer - Scott Joplin

[Henry]

These two guys were doin' it with Joplin rags back in the 1960s before "The Sting" (1973) and Hamlisch/Hollywood got their hands on them.

Max Morath - http://www.amazon.com/Morath-Plays-Best ... ott+joplin

Joshua Rifkin - http://www.amazon.com/Piano-Rags-Rifkin ... YHC4S56TQF

In the 1970s, the jazz scholar Gunther Schuller recorded several Joplin rags with a group called The New England Conservatory Ragtime Ensemble, using contemporary stock instrumental arrangements of the rags ("The Red Back Book") that were commercially available back in the day. http://www.amazon.com/Joplin-Syncopatio ... r+schuller

I saw Max Morath perform with his group in Chapel Hill c. 1967-8. Joshua Rifkin later became, of all things, a noted J.S. Bach scholar. Nonesuch issued three LP albums with Rifkin playing Joplin, of which the link (above) shows the first one, in its later CD issue; it has the same cover art as the LP. The other two albums were also issued on CD.

Sheet music of the collected Joplin rags is available in a facsimile edition from Dover Publications: http://store.doverpublications.com/0486258076.html

Technical observation: the form of a typical ragtime piece follows that of a typical Sousa march. Possibly because of the structural similarity, there has been a tendency to play rags at tempos faster than Joplin wanted. He warned that rags should never be played fast. But since he didn't provide metronome indications, which he could easily have done, there has been little to guide performers except for the imprecise verbal directions Joplin provided (e.g., "Not fast," or "Not too fast"). One thing is almost certain: m.m. = 120, the standard march tempo, is "Too fast," IMO. Authority for Joplin's ideas on tempo is found in his "School of Ragtime" essay, reprinted in the Dover edition cited above; there, each of the six exercises is labelled "Slow march tempo." He also admonishes the student, "Play slowly until you catch the swing, and never play ragtime fast at any time."

[Edisone]

I was disappointed over the years to realize that most rags issued on records were either band selections or worse...

Example of how well a Band can play a rag -

[VintageTechnologies]

The Smiler is very nice! Two of my favorites are not even Joplin compositions: "Temptation Rag" and "Black & White Rag". I am not really disparaging bands, but I was disappointed to realize that more rags weren't recorded on the piano during that time.

[jboger]

I believe there are contemporary piano rolls of some of Joplin's music, some recorded by himself.

[Lucius1958]

The Smiler is very nice! Two of my favorites are not even Joplin compositions: "Temptation Rag" and "Black & White Rag". I am not really disparaging bands, but I was disappointed to realize that more rags weren't recorded on the piano during that time.

Well, as it has been said, "the past is a foreign country". Record buyers of the early 20th century may have preferred band selections to piano solos - particularly in popular music, where they may have been more familiar with band concerts than barrelhouse pianists....

Bill

[phonojim]

As far as I can tell after 60 years of collecting records, there were not a lot of solo piano recordings done in the early days. The piano seems to have been used mostly for accompaniment to vocals or other instruments. I think part of the problem was the difficulty of making a piano recording that was deemed acceptable. I do know that this was one of Edison's major issues in the early days. The ragtime material in my collection consists of either banjo selections by VanEps or Ossman with band/orchestra accompaniment or by bands/orchestras.
As far as how rags are played, I prefer the Joshua Rifkin albums. I am not a musician, but the tempi used simply seem more correct to me rather than the way a lot of ragtime was "hammered out" at ridiculous speeds in 40s&50s recordings. Joplin's rags seem to me to be very delicate art pieces and he wanted them to be played in that way.

Jim

[Phototone]

The early acoustic record era was also the high point of the Player-piano, and its expensive sibling the Reproducing Piano, and thus there was more interest in having Piano Rolls of solo and duet piano compositions. Who would want to listen to a tinkling piano recording when you could put on a roll on a real live piano in your living room and hear the full tonal range in person? Not many, it would seem. There were plenty of rags recorded on Piano rolls, many by their authors. Over the years there have been modern album releases of classic piano rag performances from Piano rolls, played on well maintained or restored pianos.

[welshfield]

Excellent observation, phototune.
John

[phonojim]

+1

Jim

[Lucius1958]

As far as how rags are played, I prefer the Joshua Rifkin albums. I am not a musician, but the tempi used simply seem more correct to me rather than the way a lot of ragtime was "hammered out" at ridiculous speeds in 40s&50s recordings. Joplin's rags seem to me to be very delicate art pieces and he wanted them to be played in that way.

Jim

True: Joplin wrote in the "Missouri style", which was much mellower than the "East Coast style". A moderate march tempo generally works best with his rags (sometimes even slower: play "Sunflower Slow Drag" at a real slow drag tempo, and you'll be surprised how sensuous it sounds)...

Bill