Joshua Rifkin - Piano Rags By Scott Joplin

More remastered Joplin with score:

Beautiful

I had this album on nonesuch records just prior to the release of The Sting, having become familiar with the few cuts that WMMR in Philly used to play and even went to a concert that year with Joshua Rifkin playing. I became entranced with Ragtime in those days and have never stopped enjoying that style of music to this day!

I understand the great significance of this piece, but that doesn't make it any less dull and forgettable.

I don't find this rag particularly melancholic,more of a musical essay on life at that time.Now "Solace a Mexican seranade" is more of a slightly tragic sound,I love it....................................................

I had this song on a steam powered river boat in a game and i built the boat by myself but i had this song as the first song you would hear when you start the music which i had 8 songs and a fog horn and this was my favorite one im glad i finally found it

Love, love, love!!!!!

Joplin is a wonder

Oddly, I discovered this song through my first MIDI (Musical Instrument Digital Interface) experience in 1993 with a digital piano and recorder. The song came with Cakewalk Music Software and was a beautifully done demo. I said, now that's a ragtime piece, I was transported to a better time, I suppose, in the early 1900's, and I loved the charming tone of the piano this was done on. Anyone know the piano he used, please comment below. Thanks to the musicians.

“Never play ragtime fast at any time” —Joplin

My dad played Joplin.. i wish I would have stopped and listened more.

I love Scott Joplin's compositions so much, incredibly underrated, I'm glad he gets the recognition he deserves now... For the most part

This is the album that started it all. My interest in ragtime, that is.

During my high school days, I was on light and sound crew. One evening, I worked a concert by some folks from SPEBSQSA (Society for the Preservation and Encouragement of Barber Shop Quartet Singing in America). Great performance! However, prior to the start of the show, the director handed me this album, and requested that I play it for "curtain warming music." I was enthralled with the music, and especially with the intriguing write-up on the back of the album jacket.

After the show, I asked the director where he had gotten the album and where I might get one for myself. He graciously told me to keep it.

Two valuable pieces of information I gleaned from the jacket:
The New York Public library had recently published a volume of the collected works of Scott Joplin, containing virtually all the ragtime piano pieces ever published by Scott Joplin, along with reproductions of the cover sheets of each piece.
Much of the biographical information on the jacket was distilled from a recently published book on the history of ragtime, entitled 'They All Played Ragtime."

I was able to obtain a copy of the history book from my public library, and was excited to find a photo-reduced image of The Maple Leaf Rag among the plates in the center of the book. I learned my first rag squinting at the tiny music bound into a conventional sized book, that wouldn't stay open by itself and had to be propped open with heavy books on either side.
I eventually found how to order the Collected Works of Scott Joplin, and had a much easier, and enjoyable time learning many of the rags. I've worn out two copies of this book and enjoyed many years of playing rags. I've probably played through all the pieces on this album, and mastered most of them, and memorized a handful. The Entertainer is my most requested piece (thanks to the film, The Sting), and Solace, A Mexican Serenade is my favorite.

Doctor: you have 5 minutes and 15 seconds to live
Me:

This is one of my favorites from Joplin.

My sister and I found a duet version of this. for the record, I think that's how ALL Joplin should be played, at least by me. ;'D
"Yeah, you just split that sucker in half, and THEN maybe I can play it." ;'D Anyway, it's fun to play and fun to hear how it's supposed to sound when we get a little better at it!

I think this is a really beautiful ragtime.

Good

https://youtu.be/isaguuGC5LA

Quite possibly my favorite composition of all time. <3

" 'When you play classical ragtime, try thinking of a bright sunny day, just a perfect day. But somewhere, far in the back of your mind, you know that sooner or later, the lovely day will have to end. All right? Listen to this.'
Music filled the room, hung in the air like a puff or scent of fresh-mowed grass. Brun stopped breathing. Every now and again, a cloud seemed to slide over the sun, but not for long. The driving bass, beautifully melodic in its own right, played counterpoint here and there with on or another voice in the syncopated treble. Every hair on Brun's body stood at attention."

-Larry Karp

I've often attended the West Coast Ragtime Festival in the Sacramento Area. It's an incredible event with the cream of the crop of ragtime's top talent. The one thing I did notice, though, is that Rifkin--the man who thrust Joplin back into the public limelight back in 1970--is looked down upon by some of ragtime's current upper crust, not all but some--perhaps too many. And while there are a few of Rifkin's renditions that I'm not necessarily crazy about (mainly a few on volume 3 of his Nonesuch albums) I can't help but believe he laid down some of the most definitive Joplin recordings of all time. This recording, "Magnetic Rag," is definitely one of them. He doesn't overpower this rag, yet his dynamics are full and powerful. It is simply a masterpiece. The same goes for his renditions of "Gladiolus Rag," "Elite Syncopations," "Bethena," "Maple Leaf Rag," "Scott Joplin's New Rag," "Sugar Cane," "Pineapple Rag," and several others. By and large, nobody played Joplin as well as Joshua Rifkin. I just wish he had also recorded more than a handful of rags by the other great composers of ragtime--Lamb and Scott in particular.

Magic music to really lift your day

I like the slower speed it makes it more peaceful and beautiful.

I like to listen to ragtime while drawing and sketching.

Nobody does Scott Jolpin like Joshua Rifkin. The best, bar none!