Scott Joplin Music

Who would have thought of Joplin's piano music played on a violin? I would expect to hear it from a honky-tonk piano. But, apparently, Itzhak Perlman thought of it. And if it will be, why not from the very best?
I was happily surprised when I listened to this.
While the violin sound really expresses the more meditative moods, I enjoyed it most in the upbeat, truly ragtime selections.
The undercurrent from Previn's piano keeps the music moving, while Perlman's violin provides the Joplin melodies.
Even if they do not care for ragtime, violin fans will enjoy hearing this recording.

This is a superbly crafted rendition of 10 of Scott Joplin's more popular compositions. Of course, coming from Perlman and Previn, this is what you should expect. The arrangements generally feature Perlman's violin supplying the melody with Previn's piano supplying more of the tempo, and the violin seems to add immeasurably to the emotion of the pieces, particularly in the slower ones (i.e. Bethena and Solace) as well as on my particular favorites (Magnetic Rag and Sugar Cane).

Again, the music is so well done that it's hard not to love it if you have any interest in Joplin. If you are a purist like my mother who prefers to hear Joplin's compositions in their original incarnation with only the piano, then I would certainly recommend 'The Complete Piano Music of Scott Joplin' with John Arpin as the pianist. It may be hard to find on Amazon, but I was able to get it through Amazon after almost two months of waiting. As for the availability of 'The Easy Winners' on CD, it appears to be readily available on bn.com. I've had my copy for almost 20 years and I still love it.

Of course this gem had to appear as a CD, too. I have been listening to it on vinyl since 1975 when it was a grammy-nominee (category: classical chamber music!), and it is still one of the brightest shining stars in my ragtime-collection. It is the very recording that opened the eyes of the classical music-listeners to ragtime with its comparison between Joplin and his austrian contemporary Fritz Kreisler - and Joplin certainly holds his own.

The arrangements are written by Perlman, who has done a marvellous job in transforming the "saloon music" into "salon music" without loosing the original ragtime feeling. And the performance by Perlman and Previn is "living music" at it's best - 2 stars of the classical music showing us that there are really just two kinds of music: Good music and poor music. And Joplin's rags are good music!

Buy this album today and listen to "Solace". Perhaps the most beautiful recording of this tune ever?

Yes, Scott Joplin songs are great! We all know that. But this CD is of not so great recording quality. But I think the pianist, Richard Zimmerman, is the best piano player who can replicate Scott Joplin's works. So therefore, if you like Scott Joplin's songs and they're played by an excellent pianist, you can avoid some little background noise, it's not that bad, really!

If you like rags, you'll love this CD. The pieces are played well, with expression, and at the proper tempo, not at frantic breakneck speed. Can't be listened to without tapping one's fingers and toes; impossible to sit still and listen! Stoptime Rag is a bonus! It is not included in many Joplin collections, and is the only one I've heard with use of the foot-stomping device. This music will pull you right out of a funk!

The last review showed up after I ordered, unfortunately. I just noticed it as I was coming here to write this after arranging a return.

Nevertheless, totally independently of the previous review, I concur with it. The musical selections are excellent - a great compilation of Joplin's work. But the recording is so bad -- you can hear the background noise getting louder and softer as the piano gets louder and softer, one treble key of the piano inexplicably appears in the left channel while the rest of the treble register is toward the right (I couldn't possibly figure out how to do that if I wanted to and I am experienced in record engineering), the piano itself sounds awful, and the performer makes a fairly bad mistake only 2:15 into the 1st song.

There are likely many other problems with this CD, but I can't bring myself to waste time listening to the whole thing. There is simply no excuse for recording something so badly in this day and age.

If you really don't care how it sounds, buy it. I realize as a recording professional I'm a bit more sensitive to this than the average listener, but I really didn't need to put the critical ears on at all. Any layman will immediately recognize this as a bad-sounding recording. Unfortunately.

Excellent music rendered totally unlistenable due to the poor recording. Excessive background noise, distortion, etc.

Recently I read E.L.Doctorow's novel, Ragtime, and thus I was curious to know how ragtime presents its nuance as jazz music. I trust other reviewers, so I bought this album. It's an incredibly fine collection of Joplin! I'm simply intoxicated by the melodies. The music brings me back to the past, but it also proves that good music is timeless. This is a collection of Joplin's best known tunes and I strongly encourage you to get one and enjoy the ragtime!