Elite Syncopations

Scott Joplin: Piano Rags is a 1970 ragtime piano album, consisting of compositions by Scott Joplin played by Joshua Rifkin, on the Nonesuch Records label. The original album's cover states the name as Piano Rags by Scott Joplin, as contrasting the album's spine. The record is considered to have been the first to reintroduce the music of pianist and composer Joplin in the early 1970s. It was Nonesuch Records' first million-selling album.

For the price, Decca's five-disc collection entitled Ultimate Cello Classics does a fairly nice job of introducing listeners to some of the instrument's great literature. It includes the concertos of Dvorák, Saint-Saëns, Elgar, and Tchaikovsky (Rococo Variations), as well as the complete Bach solo suites. There are definite holes in the programming, however. With the exception of the aforementioned works, the remainder of the album is devoted almost exclusively to short transcriptions – works not even written for the cello. This wouldn't be so troubling if the collection included some of the "essential masterpieces" of the twentieth century or any of the sonata literature, works that are certainly more essential to the repertoire than Kreisler or Wieniawski transcriptions.

The album is dedicated to the music genre "Ragtime", a genre particularly pronounced at the end of the nineteenth and the beginning of the twentieth century. Ragtime is characterized by a syncopated, i.e., "dragging" rhythm, which is why it got its name.

Dubbed the ‘King of Ragtime’, Scott Joplin (c. 1868-1917) was one of the most important and influential composers at the turn of the 20th century. He was born in Texarkana, Texas and grew up in a musical family. At age seven, he discovered a piano in a neighbour’s house and began experimenting with it by ear. His father soon bought a second-hand piano, and by age eleven Joplin’s gifts were the talk of the community.