Scott Joplin (1867-1917)

Episodes

SeriesEpisodeTitleFirst
Broadcast
RepeatedComments
200701The Roots Of Ragtime2007100120170403 (R3)Donald Macleod, with the help of ragtime performer Morten Gunnar Larsen, looks at Scott Joplin's beginnings and the roots of the music he helped to define, which would dominate American music for two decades.

The Favorite

Scott Kirby (piano)

Treemonisha: Overture

Ophelia Ragtime Orchestra, Morten Gunnar Larsen (director)

Original Rags

Morten Gunnar Larsen (piano)

The Crush Collision March

Benjamin Loeb (piano)

Combination March / Harmony Club Waltz

William Albright (piano)

Maple Leaf rag

Piano roll played by Scott Joplin

Sunflower Slow Drag

The New England Conservatory Ragtime Ensemble, Gunther Schuller (conductor)

Treemonisha (Act 1 excerpt)

The bag of luck; The corn huskers; We're goin' around (a ring play)

Zodzetrick - Ben Harney (vocalist)

Monisha - Betty Allen (mezzo)

Ned - Willard White (bass)

Treemonisha - Carmen Balthrop (soprano)

Remus - Curtis Rayam (tenor)

Andy - Kenneth Hicks (tenor)

Chorus and Orchestra of Houston Grand Opera, Gunther Schuller (conductor).

The roots of the music Joplin helped to define, with ragtime pianist Morten Gunnar Larsen.

200702The Ragtime Craze2007100220170404 (R3)Donald Macleod talks to Joplin biographer Susan Curtis about how the Chicago World Fair and economic crisis of 1893 helped the ragtime craze to take hold, and the obstacles Joplin faced as an African-American composer aspiring to write an opera.

The Entertainer

Mimi Blais (piano)

Swipesy Cake Walk & Peacherine Rag

Scott Kirby (piano)

Easy Winners (arr. Brubeck)

Chris Brubeck (trombone / piano / bass guitar), Bill Crofut (banjo), Joel Brown (guitar) London Symphony Orchestra, Joel Revzen (conductor)

The Strenuous Life (arr Perlman)

Itzhak Perlman (violin), Andr退 Previn (piano)

Elite Syncopations (arr Perlman)

Matthew Trusler (violin), Wayne Marshall (piano)

Treemonisha (Act 1 excerpt)

Nos 6 - 10: The Sacred Tree, Surprised, Treemonisha's bringing up; Good advice; Confusion

Monisha - Betty Allen (mezzo)

Treemonisha - Carmen Balthrop (soprano)

Parson Alltalk - Edward Pierson (tenor)

Lucy - Cora Johnson (soprano)

Ned - Willard White (bass)

Remus - Curtis Rayam (tenor)

Chorus and Orchestra of Houston Grand Opera, Gunther Schuller (conductor).

Joplin biographer Susan Curtis explains how the US economic crisis of 1893 helped ragtime.

200703The Ragtime Debate2007100320170405 (R3)Donald Macleod examines how America's critics and musical establishment responded to ragtime. Supporters claimed ragtime was 'the only original and characteristic music America has produced thus far', but the music was seen by some as a moral, intellectual and physical threat.

Weeping Willow

Piano roll played by Scott Joplin

Bethena (A Concert Waltz)

Morten Gunnar Larsen (piano)

Something Doing & Binks' Waltz

The Southland Stingers, Ralph Grierson (piano), George Sponhaltz (conductor)

The Chrysanthemum & The Cascades

Dick Hyman (piano)

Treemonisha (Act 2 excerpt)

Superstition; Frolic of the bears

Ophelia Ragtime Orchestra, Morten Gunnar Larsen (director), Seim Songkor, Leif Egil Vatnøy (conductor)

Rosebud March

Scott Kirby (piano)

Katia & Marielle Lab耀que (two pianos)

The wasp nest; The rescue; We will rest awhile; Going home; Aunt Dinah has blowed the horn

Simon - Raymond Bazemore (bass)

Cephus - Dwight Ransom (vocalist)

Treemonisha - Carmen Balthrop (soprano)

Remus - Curtis Rayam (tenor)

Chorus and Orchestra of Houston Grand Opera, Gunther Schuller (conductor).

How America's critics and musical establishment responded in mixed fashion to ragtime.

200704Lost In New York2007100420170406 (R3)Scott Joplin (1867-1917)

4/5. Lost in New York

Donald Macleod and Susan Curtis look at Joplin's final decade in New York, with the composer struggling for recognition in a city that should have been full of opportunity and trying in vain to get his opera Treemonisha staged.

Treemonisha (Prelude to Act 3)

Orchestra of Houston Grand Opera

Gunther Schuller (conductor)

Heliotrope Bouquet

Giovanni De Chiaro (guitar)

Wall Street Rag

Scott Kirby (piano)

Solace (A Mexican Serenade)

Morten Gunnar Larsen (piano)

I want to see my child; Treemonisha's Return; Wrong is never right; Abuse; When villains ramble far and near; Conjurors forgiven; We will trust you as our leader (Treemonisha, Act 3)

Monisha - Betty Allen (mezzo-soprano)

Ned - Willard White (bass)

Treemonisha - Carmen Balthrop (soprano)

Remus - Curtis Rayam (tenor)

Andy - Kenneth Hicks (tenor)

Zodzetrick - Ben Harney (voice)

Luddud - Dorceal Duckens (voice)

Chorus and Orchestra of Houston Grand Opera

Gunther Schuller (conductor).

Joplin's final decade in New York saw him struggling for respect in a city of opportunity.

200705 LASTRagtime's Revival2007100520170407 (R3)Joplin and ragtime were almost forgotten within a few years of the composer's death, but by the 1970s, he was being awarded a posthumous Pulitzer prize and his music was everywhere. Donald Macleod tracks the phenomenal revival of Joplin's music with the help of Morten Gunnar Larsen.

Maple Leaf Rag - Stomp

Morten Gunnar Larsen (piano)

Stoptime Rag

Benjamin Loeb (piano)

Euphonic Sounds

Scott Joplin's New Rag

Scott Kirby (piano)

Gladiolus Rag & Paragon Rag

Joshua Rifkin (piano)

Solace (orchestral version - arr Hamlisch)

The Entertainer (orchestral version - arr Schuller)

Pineapple Rag (orchestral version - arr Schuller)

Soundtrack from The Sting: Marvin Hamlisch (piano)/ Universal Studio musicians

Treemonisha (Act 3 excerpt)

Finale: A Real Slow Drag

Treemonisha - Carmen Balthrop (soprano)

Lucy - Cora Johnson (soprano)

Chorus and Orchestra of Houston Grand Opera, Gunther Schuller (cond)

Magnetic Rag

Producer: Megan Jones.

Joplin and ragtime were almost forgotten after his death but had a revival in the 1970s.