Scott Joplin's Rag-Time Dance and Stoptime Rag both require performers to stamp their feet, with specific instructions in the score.
Composer's Artistic Vision
Scott Joplin explicitly stated that 'It is never right to play Ragtime fast,' a characteristic notice found at the start of his rag Eugenia.
Composer Biography
Scott Joplin, born in Texarkana, was born just six years after the abolition of slavery; his father had been a slave while his mother was free-born.
Compositional Technique
Ragtime, the musical style Scott Joplin mastered, is a fusion of African rhythms, marching tunes, and Western European harmony.
Composer's Artistic Vision
Scott Joplin raised the Rag to an art form within its mostly rigid framework of regular sixteen-bar sections and duple meter.
Performer Biography
Benjamin Loeb, the pianist on this album, is also an accomplished conductor, serving as Associate Conductor for the El Paso Symphony and founder of the International Conducting Workshop and Festival.
Cultural Impact
Ragtime rapidly gained widespread popularity through published editions and pianola versions, becoming a craze between approximately 1895 and 1915.
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Codex
Gottschalk/Joplin/Gershwin
Fusion - Music for Piano Duo by Adams, Bolcom, Corigliano, Man and Rogers
