Ragtime Music

I object to the title, "Brazilian ragtime." This is not ragtime. It is... well... Nazareth, and it is unique. Nazareth had many of the same influences as Joplin, but he was also influenced by Brazil. I think Nazareth was more playful than Joplin, yet also just as serious.
Almeida's performances express Brazilian character better than any others of Nazareth I have heard. Nazareth's playfulness is expressed in the tangos and his sentimentality is expressed in the waltzes. "Odeon" is brilliant. The pieces meant to sound like a cavaquinho (approximately a ukele) "Apanhei-te Cavaquinho" & "Ameno Rededa'" sound like a cavaquinho. "Fon-Fon!" gives me saudade of traffic in Rio de Janeiro.
Most importantly, Almeida's clean & precise performances articulate the complexities of the music and bring out the serious European influences. The performer of Nazareth must be both a pianista and a pianeiro.
Marco Antonio de Almeida does it well.

I discovered Ernesto Nazareth by accident. His music is stunning--charming, playful, soulful, by turns. The only way to describe it is as a combination of European classical, Brazilian and South American dance, and American ragtime. Really superb music, seldom heard. Nazareth apparently wrote thousands of these miniature pieces. There are very few recordings in print. Thanks to Marco Antonio de Almeida and Klavier Records for giving us this CD.

Very good cello pieces. Not commonly heard on recordings. A treat!!

Bob Milne is the greatest Boogie Woogie, Ragtime and any other Piano music you want to hear. I heard him play back in the 1960's and he has as a fine wine, improved with age. He is one of America's greatest Natural Treasures. Anytime you have an opertunity to hear him play, do so, as it is a moving experience you will never forget.

Inez

Fantastic compilation of Old American Songs!
This album was recorded about a decade ago, today -
Nathan Gunn is a well known and respected opera singer,
a title he truly deserves.
You might check out his other album -
John Adams: Shaker Loops; The Wound-Dresser; Short Ride in a Fast Machine

If American's could appreciate their art songs the way the German's, the French and the English appreciate their classical art songs, Nathan Gunn would be in the same league as Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau. It doesn't hurt Mr. Gunn's career that he is a handsome fellow but music isn't about looks especially when you're listening to a CD. Nathan Gunn is truly an artist and should be recognized as such. And these beautiful songs, if one takes the time to read the poetry and tries to appreciate how the composers and the artist interpret the words, these songs can be a revelation. The U.S has the equivalent of Schubert & Debussy in Samuel Barber, John Musto, William Bolcom and some of the others represented on this disc. Think like a poet and you will fall in love with this music, Mr. Gunn's interpretations and his absolutely beautiful voice.

I wasn't crazy about this one. I absolutely love "Just Before Sunrise", but this one is just annoying. He has an incredible baritone voice, but the piano accompaniment and the song selection . . . Buy "Just Before Sunrise". It's incredible!

Nathan Gunn's baritone voice is a delicious blend of velvet and dark chocolate. These are art songs and may not be to everyone's taste, but if you listen to them for what they are and the voice behind them, they are wonderful. Glad I caught him on 2nd Cafe to find out about this album. There are a couple of songs that may be familiar, but most of them are the type of songs my daughter learned with her voice teacher. LOVELY, LOVELY album.

There'd be 5 stars if I liked all of the songs, but I don't. (You might.)
I have a problem with some American song writing: it seems to me (perhaps wrongly) that too often songs sound alike in the sense that they seek to hang onto the musical coattails of, say, Ives or Copland. Others sound to me as cousins of "Oklahoma" or "Carousel".
Despite my carping, I did enjoy this CD, in large part because Gunn knew just how to get into the mood of each song. Besides this, he has a rich, robuist voice and used it nimbly.

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've been compiling musical "anthologies" for 30 years (i.e., collecting recordings and rearranging them into programs for my own amusement), one of which was a celebration of ragtime. I also often mixed rags into other genres just to spice things up.

Admittedly, I usually became so fond of the first rendition of each rag that I heard that I rarely preferred to hear that rag as recorded by some other artist. The thought of looking for contemporary rags, however, never occurred to me, though after buying this CD and doing some research, I now understand there are lots contemporary rags (though I have not yet researched whether there are commercially available recordings of them). Hearing new rags played in a new style is a chance to start over, and hear the genre as though for the first time.

For example, when I popped this CD into the car player, I settled in for what I thought was going to be routine program. But a brief way into the second track (see next paragraph), I knew the original tracks were going to be the real treat. If, like the artist, you think the whole point of a rag is to have a bit of fun, then you are likely to appreciate these new rags; they are sometimes a rag "with a twist."

Laramie Rag is my favorite. It is the first original on the CD (the second track described earlier) and it has just enough, well, anomolies, for lack of a better term, that I knew, on the first listening, that it could not be a classic, even though, most of the time, it sounded just like one. And that's why it is so much fun.

The recording quality is also excellent. Overall, this was a really fine purchase.

My love for Joplin's rags goes way back to my childhood; 'Maple Leaf Rag' and 'Gladiolus Rag' were two that I frequently played in public and always got a positive response, even from musically unsophisticated audiences. On this CD we have 'Gladiolus Rag' and in his notes pianist/composer Gary Smart calls it his favorite Joplin rag; mine, too. There is only one other Joplin piece here, 'Solace (A Mexican Serenade)', one I'd never heard before. It's a slow, dreamy piece which is underpinned by a Hispanic rhythm. Smart plays it with feeling, a creamy legato and a loose-limbed rubato. A winner.

The other rag composers represented here are Joseph Lamb ('Ragtime Nightingale', 'American Beauty'), James Scott ('Grace and Beauty'), Clarence Woods ('Sleepy Hollow Rag'), Robert Hampton ('Cataract Rag'), and best of all there are seven originals by Gary Smart himself: 'Laramie Rag', 'Two Flowers Rag', 'Cracker Rag', 'Peanut Butter Rag', 'Soirees de Vienne (Ragtime rondo)', 'Harlequin Rag' and 'Bell Rag.'

First, let me say that Smart plays these rags with close attention to the scores, not least Joplin's own imperative instruction not to play his rags too fast. Hurray for that. He has an interesting way with rubato; at times it seems wayward, but mostly it feels 'right.' He also plays with a minimum of pedal, which I quite like. He has a fairly well-regulated piano and the recorded sound is good.

Some musical high points: Smart's slithery 'Laramie Rag', written when he was teaching at the University of Wyoming in Laramie; it slyly quotes 'Home of the Range'. James Scott's 'Grace and Beauty' which has both title qualities in abundance; again, Smart's slightly restrained manner fits this elegant rag perfectly. Smart's 'Peanut Butter Rag', although written only last year, has its fair share of 1920s 'eccentric rag' licks. 'Gladiolus Rag' is played broadly and unhurriedly; I love Smart's way with the chromatic upsweeps in the left hand. Hampton's 'Cataract Rag', one that I can only recall hearing once before, is ragtime tone-painting at its best; the 'cataract' of the title is a waterfall, imitated with lacy downward chromatic figures.

But my favorites of the whole CD are the last two cuts, both rags by Smart himself. Smart says, in his handsome booklet notes, that 'Harlequin' is operatic and indeed it is, but not like any Italian opera you've heard, perhaps Joplin's own 'Treemonisha' is conjured up. It is harmonically adventurous and expands the usual AABBACCDD rag format. Musically it describes the Arlequino character from Italian commedia dell'arte (not the series of romance novels!) and has much the same kind of impish humor as in, say, Strauss's 'Till Eulenspiegel.' Finally, 'Bell Rag' (1986) is a joyous up-tempo rag, written on commission from Mountain Bell Telephone, and it humorously quotes that sentimental old pop song from 1901, 'Hello, Central, Give Me Heaven'. It is harmonically complicated, uses various kinds of 'bell' sounds, sometimes goes into some bop figurations and ends with, to quote the composer, 'a ringing coda.' Yowzah!

Worth a listen, for sure.

Scott Morrison

American Fantasy is a wonderful collection, and it sounds great coming from this chamber ensemble that thinks big. These pieces evoke the memory of the first time I heard many of them. Where were you when you were introduced to the "Entry of the Gladiators?" Never played better than right here. The Bijou Orchestra passionately performs 16 enduring works that will keep this CD spinning in your home or car for months. Top-notch players make the difference-this is one hot swingin' band! Orchestra! Bijou!

Like those slow moody songs TOM WAITS plays?

Or RANDY NEWMAN's quaint little ragtime songs, the cool solo ones?

Or maybe you think Scott Joplin rags are okay, but you're yearning for something more? If Joplin hadn't had the 'Maple
Leaf Rag' hit, or had the 'Entertainer' used for the hit movie 'The Sting' years later, what might Joplin's life have been
like if he still created wonderful music, but was unknown in his lifetime, for lack of a commercial 'HIT' ?

He might've been David Thomas Roberts.

A lofty comparrison, sure! But Roberts has paid his dues, AND he's wonderfully talented, to boot.
There's no singing, it's all solo piano, but it's STILL worth it!

Okay, most of today's music fans have never HEARD of David Thomas Roberts, but if you've read this far, chances are
you're a ragtime fan. If you've taken the time to listen to any of Joplin's rags, you AT LEAST deserve to BUY THIS CD!!!
I have all David Thomas Roberts' CD's, and this one is (for lack of a better term) a 'best of', and has some amazingly
diverse, expressive songs!

This collection serves as the 'best of' David Thomas Roberts rags from several labels,
including Euphonic, Stomp Off and Piano Mania. Do yourself a favor and BUY THIS CD!!!