I began listening to these artists in late February 2024 after taking a class called "Popular Music in Black America." Ragtime is a music genre which generally features solo piano and no vocals. It reached its peak popularity during 1900-1920 under the leadership of Scott Joplin. Although I enjoyed the upper echelon of ragtime composers, I didn't want to make a significant project out of this excursion, so I just stuck to the "Big Three" ragtime composers. I listed the artists below based on the order I think you should listen to them.
Joshua Rifkin: Scott Joplin: Piano Rags (1970): A-
The Roaring Twenties: James Scott Ragtime Collection (2007): B
Guido Nielsen: Joseph F. Lamb: The Complete Stark Rags (1998): B+
Joshua Rifkin: Scott Joplin: Piano Rags (1970):
Scott Joplin was a pianist at the turn of the 20th century and was one of the first black musicians to achieve national fame, mostly by way of his contributions to the genre ragtime. Because he declined in health by the time recording would have been able to capture his performances, all we have to document his talents are the sheets of music he left behind. By the mid-60s, ragtime was mostly forgotten but it had a revival when classical pianist Joshua Rifkin recorded some of Joplin's work in 1970 for this album. Although comprising only a sliver of Joplin's impressive catalog, it collects and anthologizes Joplin's best remembered work. Soon after the album's release, Rifkin's interpretations were taken and added the blockbuster movie The Sting, which brought Joplin to substantial fame. Today, much of the population will still recognize compositions by Joplin but most will know them at a tempo that would have made Joplin's head spin. However, Rifkin took care to reproduce music, which in Joplin's eyes, should never be rushed. A-
The Roaring Twenties: James Scott Ragtime Collection (2007):
Like Joseph Lamb two years later, James Scott was inspired by the compositions of Scott Joplin and tracked him down in 1905. Joplin was impressed with Scott's work and Scott was signed to Stark Publishing not long after. Scott proved to be nearly as prolific as Joplin, publishing a total of 38 works under Stark. Like Lamb and Joplin, Scott did not leave recordings of his music behind, so his legacy is left in the hands of classical pianists who reproduce his music. Because of his lengthy catalog, many of the better known compilations of Scott's compositions collect all of his material and end up running well over two hours. Although this compilation is not one of the better known interpretations of James Scott's work, it was easily available on streaming platforms and clocked in at only 70 minutes, one of the shortest compilations on Scott's material I was able to find. While Scott, like Lamb, doesn't reach the same heights of Joplin, his compositions are highly enjoyable and this compilation gives a healthy overview of his work, even if it still is a little too long. B
Guido Nielsen: Joseph F. Lamb: The Complete Stark Rags (1998):
Joseph Lamb was one of the "Big Three" composers of ragtime, coming to the genre after falling in love with Scott Joplin's early work. Encouraged by Joplin, Lamb signed with the same publisher, John Stark, and published twelve rags from 1908 to 1919. These are generally considered his most significant compositions although he wrote other pieces later in life. To the surprise of ragtime revivalists who met Lamb in the 1950s, Lamb was a white man of Irish descent. While not writing anything as memorable as Joplin's "Maple Leaf Rag" or "The Entertainer," Lamb was an excellent composer and his works are done significant justice by Guido Nielsen, who recorded this compilation in the 1990s. While these recordings could have been better with the slightly slower tempo and warm piano sound that Joshua Rifkin utilized when he recorded Joplin in 1970, these nitpickings do not take away from the clear strength of these compositions and performances. B+
