Scott Joplin

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.

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.

"It is never right to play Ragtime fast." Scott Joplin's famous instruction, printed at the top of most of his publications, has been overlooked by many pianists who take quick, Tin Pan Alley tempos for such favorites as Maple Leaf Rag and The Easy Winners. Listening to William Appling's four-CD set of the complete rags, waltzes, and marches, one should be convinced that the correct speed for most of Joplin's piano music seems to be a moderate walking, if not ambling, pace, and Joplin's subtle harmonies and intricate syncopations are easier to appreciate when the timing is leisurely. Appling came to Joplin by way of rediscovering a student's abandoned copy of the Collected Works edition, and playing through the rags in 2001 gave him the impetus to record not only this impressive collection, but also to work on other Joplin projects, such as a full-scale production of the opera Treemonisha.