Ragtime Music

....In some of her other albums, Nadja takes things a bit too slowly for my taste, but these small "encore" pieces are right up her alley. This record is 71' 12" of pure entertainment. Not that they're easy to perform....

I'll mention a few highlights of the great music Nadja and Sandra Rivers made together....for me, the high point is Georg Kroll's "Banjo and Fiddle"...six of the fourteen tracks are Fritz Kreisler pieces to which Nadja does full justice...the title cut is superbly done, as is the other Gershwin piece, and the one Scott Joplin offering [I wish there had been more].

This is a wonderful album; if you heard Nadja's Brahams Concerto, are ready to forgive her, and give her another chance, this record is for you...you won't be sorry.

Salerno-Sonnenberg's passionate, elegant, heartbreaking interpretations of these wonderful selections is perfectly paired with Sandra Rivers at the piano. I shall never forget their performance of "Claire de lune," the Kreisler pieces, or the exquisite Rachmaninov "Vocalise." In her hands, the violin becomes voice and reeds and brass -- transcending itself and taking the audience right along.

Making great music lies in the ability to express things words can't, to touch the soul, capture the moment and move the heart.

It takes a great artist to perform great music!

Nadja Salerno-Sonnenberg is such an artist and this release is one of her many gifts to the music loving world!

Yes, she does: her sound is horribly thin, and she can't play the highest notes strong enough, so that they wither away and disappear into silence. Even the darkest, lowest notes come out weakly, so one can't argue that she has trouble just with the upper registers: her whole playing is terribly bad. She does have
a good vibrato, but I fear that if her sound were not thin, the vibrato would make even the darkest melody sound pathetic.

Hahn is all right (not excellent, nor good, just right for
some provincial recital hall) as long as she keeps to the lower pitch range (perhaps she should be playing the bass fiddle!), Shaham does everything only passably, and Chang has some passion and feeling but no strength to express it, but Salerno-Sonnenberg is bad across the board. There maybe a passably competent technique in her playing (that is, she can get the melody across), but she plays out of tune - the sound is disgusting!

I know how crazy this piece of writing must sound among so many raves, but there's no other way to explain the horribly weak, thin sound of the violin in this recording. Perlman, who suffered all his life from weak health, even in such difficult pieces as Beethoven's Kreutzer sonata was able to produce a full-bodied sound - and this, when he was well past his sixties.

But then again, Salerno-Sonnenberg is not alone in showing such a lack of... no, this is not about inborn talent. I doubt some child can pick up a violin and play in tune without first listening to a competent elder's playing. After the most basic education in music performance, it is just a question of getting a good recording of a piece, and practicing till one gets a relatively equal sound.

I harbored great hopes for Salerno-Sonnenberg when I read about her troubled life, the attacks she had to face from critics, her attempted suicide. I was letting myself be deceived by that old Romantic cliché, that pain makes for good art. But this is not about discovering or rediscovering unknown masterpieces, but about interpreting establish ones, and a Paganini doesn't have the "extended techniques" present in many postmodern pieces where noise passes for music, so in this case a standard called in-tune playing exists, and she doesn't perform up to it. But this judgement depends on my senses. If you don't believe me, you can find out whether I am right, or whether I am just another flea-like critic from the incestuous music business, by comparing Salerno-Sonnenberg's playing to that of any famous solo violinist whose career started in the 60's or 50's - when gesticulating wasn't equated with playing.

Check out Track #5 - Liebesieid - for a small sampling of the tremendous emotional pull of Nadja's playing. I have several CDs of Itzhak Perman, and Anne-Sophie Mutter, but no violinist matches Nadja's gift of making each piece her own - you know that she truely feels the music - it flows through her - and it isn't just a dry technical playing of the piece.

This guy plays piano with a lot of pizzazz. I especially like his thoughtful "Ragtime Nightingale" and his fresh yet conservative take on "Maple Leaf Rag." He adds few new twists to keep the ubiquitous "Maple Leaf" fresh - a godsend to those of us who have heard this rag billions of times. Thankfully, these twists are not too extreme - Watkins is neither a stodgy ragtime conservative nor an eccentric iconoclast. A tasteful ragtime interpreter in my opinion.

My favorite track is "Eatin' Chocolates," an obscure Iowa rag from 1903, written for a local candy company. Kudos to Mr. Watkins for discovering this rare gem.

My only complaint is that the CD cover is misleading. It shows a bunch of men sitting in a parlor, looking like they are falling asleep. What are they listenbing to? Maybe Satie, maybe Debussy, maybe Kenny G. They are certainly not listening to Brent Watkins, because if they were, they'd be tapping their feet or swaying.

For the "Heroes of Parlor Town," pianist Brent Watkins has put together a mouthwatering selection of well-known and obscure ragtime and early jazz piano solos. In sixteen selections, the disc covers twenty-five years of ragtime, from Scott Joplin's "The Maple Leaf Rag" (1899) to Jelly Roll Morton's "Mamanita" (1924). The pieces are roughly arranged in chronological order, allowing the listener to hear how ragtime developed into jazz. Unfortunately, there are no liner notes with the disc outside of a brief couple paragraphs on the tray card which explain that the "heroes of Parlor Town" were the "men of color who defined musical culture for white America."

The disc is very well recored on a great-sounding grand piano. No sore ears from out-of-tune honky-tonk uprights here! In general, Watkins's performances are excellent: he tackles the uptempo pieces with vigor and pep, and the gentler pieces are a little more relaxed. Watkins rips through Clarence Wiley's fiery "Carbarlick Acid" (1903) particularly well; it just leaps out of my stereo with fantastic energy (and some audible foot stomps from Watkins) -- it is my favorite track on the disc, one I find myself playing over and over. Scattered throughout the disc are a few rhythms which feel a bit unstable, and a few "messy" notes (and anyone who knows how difficult some of these pieces are can easily forgive those). On the whole the pieces are played with great skill and Watkins's passion for the music shines through.

Fans of ragtime and early jazz will enjoy this disc. I notice that it's listed as "Volume 1." Let's hope that Volume 2 isn't far off! Recommended.

I bought the LP in 1965. Still have it, but no phono. I bought the CD and can enjoy it once again.

This was a favorite album from the 60's, lost with all my LP collection as I up-graded to cd's. So it was such a pleasure to find it reissued - and it has retained it's delight. Having introduced my granddaughter to the Beatles, it was great fun to play this cd and have her recognize the underlying tunes.

It's sometimes hard to figure, historically, which came first -- The Baroque Beatles Book, or The Beatles. These arrangements are so convincing and professionally executed, that it's not out of the realm of possibility that Handel could have written them. (This is silly, but that's how much thought and effort went into this production.) I remember this album when it came out in 1965 and bought and admired it then, and I'm buying it now on CD.

I didnt know that this record exist.It was an in teresting surprise and I bought it inmediatly.And in my opinion the average quality is high.There are things better than others.But I am glad I owe this recording.Beeing a professional harpsichordist,I love baroque music,and on the other side,I like the beatles.I knew Rifkin from other works.And,I am noit at all dissapointed with this record.

first released in the mid 60s, joshua rifkin's baroque beatles book has long been unavailable and is one that belongs in any serious beatles fans' library. the classical arrangements of early beatles hits never failed to impress those classical music snobs that frequented the record store i worked in when it came out. our favorite trick was to entice them to listen to it on headphones without knowing who it was. it never failed. it's timeless. my favorite track is ""Last Night I Said," Cantata for the Third Sunday after Shea Stadium, MBE 58,000: 1.Chorus: "Last night I said" Please Please Me". nuff'said.

Those of us of a certain age remember seeing this strange white-suited man on SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE back in the late 70s/early 80s strumming along while singing in his own inimitable style classic rags. Redbone's BRANCH TO BRANCH is filled with great cuts, not all of them traditional folk/ragtime tunes. Hearing Redbone wail on "When You Wish Upon a Star" will banish thoughts of Jiminy Cricket from your mind, and "Seduced" ("I wanna be seduced/I want a woman to talk to me suggestively") deserves more attention than it's had over the years. Great voice, great instrumentals, great album.

Leon Redbone is a true martian in the world of music.I even don't know about his age,although I listen to him for some 20 years.Every record by Leon is a gem,almost his early recordings in which he plays a lot of guitar; and when Leon plays guitar, he's truly amazing, somewhere between Blind Blake and Joseph Spence.There are great tunes in this record,a beautiful lullaby ("prairie lullaby"),tributes to Jelly Roll Morton ("Te-na-na" and the marvelous "why",to tunes recorded by Jelly Roll in his 1940 session,thelast he ever made),a tribute to Blind Blake too ("step it up and go"); let's say that Leon may be the guy that was the closer ever to Blind Blake;he can play outstanding things like Blind Blake did.Redbone's smoky voice is amazing in every tune.There is also a marvelous "extra blues",and a salute to the great Ukulele Ike,"when you wish upon a star".Backing Leon, you can listen to Dr John,Grady Tate,Bob Cranshaw and Ed Polcer.A great trip back to the pre-war years.

Leon is fabulous! Great musicians too. Jack Maheu makes it for me.

Check out the Salt City Six and Dukes of Dixieland if you don't believe me!

This, comming from a tuba player!

However, the recording engineer has no clue whatsoever! A VERY poor recording for contemporary standards. I would bet that even the master tape couldn't be cleaned up. Very shoddy work here! I could do beter with a dixie cup and a string to a scully lathe burning hot direct to platten.

If you are an audiophile, run away! If you have an unconditional love for jazz, go for it!

This could/should have been recorded better!

Greg Kalkhoff (gkalkhof@execpc.com)

Leon is always a treat ... play some of his music when you want to have a happy lazy day.
For the person who wanted the lyrics to prairie lullaby, I found these on the internet and believe they are correct:
Shadows slowly creeping, down the prairie trail. Everything is sleeping, all but the nightingale.
Soon the moon will be climbing across the blue, blue sky, night winds slow and haunting.
This prairie lullaby.
Tumble to bed, my child, my little old sleepy head, the stars are in the sky.
Now that your prayers are said, my little old sleepy head to this prairie lullaby.
Saddle up your ponies, to sail with you, lead you down a trail of dreams.
Stumble to bed, my child, my little old sleepy head, to this prairie lullaby.
Saddle up your ponies to sail with you, lead you down a trail of dreams.
Now that your prayers are said, you can get to bed, to this prairie lullaby.

Splendid work of listening pleasure