Scott Joplin: Piano Rags

1970 studio album by Joshua Rifkin

Scott Joplin: Piano Rags

Cover of the expanded CD reissue (1987)

Studio album by

Joshua Rifkin

Released| November 1970
Genre| Ragtime
Length| 32:40
Label| Nonesuch Records

Piano Rags by Scott Joplin is an album by Joshua Rifkin consisting of ragtime compositions by Scott Joplin, released by Nonesuch Records in 1970. The spine of the original album and various compact disc reissues render the title as Scott Joplin: Piano Rags.[1]

The album is considered to have been the first to reintroduce Joplin's music in the early 1970s and thus contributing to the 1970s revival of Ragtime. It received critical recognition upon its release, and, after several of Joplin's compositions were featured in the 1973 film The Sting, achieved commercial success, becoming Nonesuch Records' first million-selling album.

## Liner notes

[edit]

In the liner notes he wrote for the album, Rifkin provides a brief history of ragtime music, a biographical sketch of Joplin, and a musical analysis of the included compositions. He concludes by saying: "The awakening of interest in black culture and history during the last decade has not yet resurrected Joplin and his contemporaries, who remain barely known beyond a growing coterie of ragtime devotees. Yet it offers a perfect opportunity to discover the beauties of his music and accord him the honor that he deserves."

## Reception

[edit]

The album was released in November 1970. It sold 100,000 copies the first year, and went on to become Nonesuch's first million-selling album.[2][3] For the first time, record stores found themselves putting ragtime in the classical music section. The Billboard "Best-Selling Classical LPs" chart for 28 September 1974 has this album at #5, Rifkin's follow-up album, Volume II, at #4, and a combined set of both volumes at #3; in total, the two volumes had been on the chart for 64 weeks.[4] At the 14th Annual Grammy Awards, Piano Rags was nominated for Best Album Notes and Best Instrumental Soloist Performance (without orchestra).[5]

In January 1971, Harold C. Schonberg of The New York Times, having just heard the album, wrote a featured Sunday edition article entitled "Scholars, Get Busy on Scott Joplin!"[6] Schonberg's call to action has been described as the catalyst for classical music scholars, the sort of people Joplin had battled all his life, to conclude that Joplin was a genius.[7] In 1979, Alan Rich wrote in New York magazine that, by giving artists like Rifkin the opportunity to put Joplin's music on record, Nonesuch "created, almost alone, the Scott Joplin revival."[8]

## Track listing

[edit]

* Side One

1. "Maple Leaf Rag " (1899) (3:13)
2. "The Entertainer" (1902) (4:58)
3. "The Ragtime Dance" (1906) (3:13)
4. "Gladiolus Rag" (1907) (4:24)

* Side Two

1. "Fig Leaf Rag" (1908) (4:38)
2. "Scott Joplin's New Rag" (1912) (3:07)
3. "Euphonic Sounds" (1909) (3:53)
4. "Magnetic Rag" (1914) (5:11)

## Personnel

[edit]

* Joshua Rifkin – piano and liner notes
* Marc J. Aubort & Joanna Nickrenz – engineering and tape editing (Elite Recordings, Inc.)
* Teresa Sterne – coordinator
* Robert L. Heimall – cover design and art direction
* Saul Lambert[9] – cover art

## Charts

[edit]

Chart (1973)  | Peak
position

|

Australia (Kent Music Report)[10] | 58

## Reissues

[edit]

Nonesuch reissued the album on CD in 1987. This release features nine additional tracks, which were taken from Rifkin's two subsequent albums of music composed by Joplin.[11]

## Follow-up albums

[edit]

Rifkin recorded two more albums of music composed by Joplin, Piano Rags by Scott Joplin, Volume II (1972) and Piano Rags by Scott Joplin, Volume III (1974), both of which were also released by Nonesuch.[12]

## References

[edit]

1. ^ Scott Joplin: Piano Rags, Joshua Rifkin, piano, vinyl LP, 1970, Nonesuch Records stereo H-71248
2. ^ "Scott Joplin Piano Rags Nonesuch Records CD (w/bonus tracks)". Retrieved March 19, 2009.
3. ^ "Nonesuch Records". Retrieved March 19, 2009.
4. ^ Billboard magazine 1974, p. 61.
5. ^ "Entertainment Awards Database". LA Times. Retrieved March 17, 2009.
6. ^ Schonberg, Harold C. (January 24, 1971). "Scholars, Get Busy on Scott Joplin!". New York Times. Retrieved March 20, 2009.
7. ^ Waldo (1976) p. 184.
8. ^ Rich 1979.
9. ^ "Saul Lambert, 81, artist/illustrator". www.thevillager.com. Archived from the original on July 28, 2012.
10. ^ Kent, David (1993). Australian Chart Book 1970–1992 (illustrated ed.). St Ives, N.S.W.: Australian Chart Book. p. 252\. ISBN 0-646-11917-6.
11. ^ CD reissue at Nonesuch Records website
12. ^ Scott Joplin: Piano Rags, Vol. III, Joshua Rifkin, piano. Nonesuch H-71305, 1974

## Sources

[edit]

* LA Times. "Entertainment Awards Database". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved March 17, 2009.
* Billboard magazine (1974). "Best Selling Classical LPs". Billboard Magazine (28 September 1974): 61. Retrieved July 29, 2011.
* Rich, Alan (1979). "Music". New York (24 December 1979). New York Media LLC: 81. Retrieved August 5, 2011.

* v
* t
* e

Scott Joplin

* Compositions

Piano rags|

* "Original Rags" (1899)
* "Maple Leaf Rag" (1899)
* "The Easy Winners" (1901)
* "Elite Syncopations" (1902)
* "The Entertainer" (1902)
* "The Ragtime Dance" (1902/1906)
* "Weeping Willow" (1903)
* "Bethena" (1905)
* "Searchlight Rag" (1907)
* "Wall Street Rag" (1909)
* "Silver Swan Rag" (1914/1971)
* "Magnetic Rag" (1914)

Operas|

* A Guest of Honor (1903)
* Treemonisha (1911)

Habaneras|

* "Solace" (1909)

Collaborations|

* "Swipesy Cakewalk" (1900)
* "Sunflower Slow Drag" (1901)
* "Heliotrope Bouquet" (1907)

Related|

* Scott Joplin House State Historic Site
* The Sting (1973 film)
* Scott Joplin: Piano Rags (1970)
* Scott Joplin (1977 film)
* Scott Joplin (1982 painting)
* Vera Brodsky Lawrence

*[v]: View this template
*[t]: Discuss this template
*[e]: Edit this template