I love your tempo on this. In my mind, Joplin wrote two Weeping Willow Rags. When played fast, it's got a whole different feel and meaning. I prefer it the way you did, with grace and elegance, beauty and subtlety.
Wonderful rendition! Great tempo. One question though -- are those little trills actually in the music? 😉 (Having learned this piece in my youth, I don't remember them.) Why does everyone insist on playing them?
You mean the little arpeggios? No, they're not in the score. I assume pianists add them to make the performance a little more interesting to listen to.
@@seanofpeace That's true, but you have to remember that ragtime has a long tradition of improvisation that stretches way back to even before the US civil war. The musicians didn't really start writing the music down until the 1890s, and even then the players would improvise and make changes when they performed the music. It wasn't until the 1970s with the release of Joshua Rifkin’s Joplin albums, that it became common to treat Joplin's music more like western classical music and play the pieces exactly as written. Note that even Rifkin doesn't adhere so strictly to the scores. He makes embellishments and shifts the right hand up and octave on repeats, for example. And he uses the sustain pedal even when it's not written in the score.
@@fredrikfredrikfredrik That's very interesting, thank you for the context! My father had (and I still have) Dick Hymen's 5-album set "Scott Joplin - The Complete Works for Piano" as well as a book of all his published rags. Mr. Hymen played the pieces as published without embellishment. (Which was extremely helpful for me when learning them, as I also had nearly zero score reading knowledge. Hearing how things were played and matching them to the score essentially taught me how to read music.) In addition to Weeping Willow, I learned Solace, Magnetic Rag (also played excellently by BachScholar - ua-cam.com/video/Rq_p2M9JObI/v-deo.html ), and Maple Leaf Rag. I guess you could just call me a purist. :)
@@seanofpeace Wow! I wasn't aware of that Dick Hyman album. Thank you very much for mentioning it. I'll have to listen to the whole thing now :-) As for my personal experience with Joplin, I'm entirely with you. When I learned Magnetic Rag, I played it exactly as written. I think it sounds beautiful as is!
I love your tempo on this. In my mind, Joplin wrote two Weeping Willow Rags. When played fast, it's got a whole different feel and meaning. I prefer it the way you did, with grace and elegance, beauty and subtlety.
Thanks a million. Scott Joplin forever! ❤❤❤
I love the crescendo from the B section into the repeat of the A section. Really sounds bold
Simply Beautiful !!
Never occurred to me to use the thumb for two notes in certain parts of the second section. Eye opener!
Essa eu nao conhecia!
Oh Lord! When!? When will i ever get to learn some rags?
This one isn't too hard. I taught it to myself after listening to it a few times. Try it bro!
Wonderful rendition! Great tempo.
One question though -- are those little trills actually in the music? 😉 (Having learned this piece in my youth, I don't remember them.) Why does everyone insist on playing them?
You mean the little arpeggios? No, they're not in the score. I assume pianists add them to make the performance a little more interesting to listen to.
@@fredrikfredrikfredrik That makes sense as to why. But it's always bothered me because no one would add such things to any other composer's work.
@@seanofpeace That's true, but you have to remember that ragtime has a long tradition of improvisation that stretches way back to even before the US civil war. The musicians didn't really start writing the music down until the 1890s, and even then the players would improvise and make changes when they performed the music. It wasn't until the 1970s with the release of Joshua Rifkin’s Joplin albums, that it became common to treat Joplin's music more like western classical music and play the pieces exactly as written. Note that even Rifkin doesn't adhere so strictly to the scores. He makes embellishments and shifts the right hand up and octave on repeats, for example. And he uses the sustain pedal even when it's not written in the score.
@@fredrikfredrikfredrik That's very interesting, thank you for the context! My father had (and I still have) Dick Hymen's 5-album set "Scott Joplin - The Complete Works for Piano" as well as a book of all his published rags. Mr. Hymen played the pieces as published without embellishment. (Which was extremely helpful for me when learning them, as I also had nearly zero score reading knowledge. Hearing how things were played and matching them to the score essentially taught me how to read music.) In addition to Weeping Willow, I learned Solace, Magnetic Rag (also played excellently by BachScholar - ua-cam.com/video/Rq_p2M9JObI/v-deo.html ), and Maple Leaf Rag.
I guess you could just call me a purist. :)
@@seanofpeace Wow! I wasn't aware of that Dick Hyman album. Thank you very much for mentioning it. I'll have to listen to the whole thing now :-)
As for my personal experience with Joplin, I'm entirely with you. When I learned Magnetic Rag, I played it exactly as written. I think it sounds beautiful as is!
Your style changed from your last recording.
Left hand chord must have a little bit more accentuation for good