Pianist Donna Coleman has devoted much of her career to the study and performance of the works of Charles Ives (her two Etcetera recordings of his sonatas from the late-1980s/early-’90s are exemplary and well worth tracking down), and that involvement over many years led her to investigate his predecessors and possible influences. One area Coleman’s explorations led was to ragtime music and its relatives, repertoire that already interested her, and from this general starting point she began her quest to “trace the evolution of the piano rag back to its origins, and to trace its influences forward.”
One of the fruits of her search is a pair of recordings titled “Rags to Riches: A Syncopated Century”; this second volume focuses on music associated with such places as Havana (Manuel Saumell Robredo, Ignacio Cervantes, Louis Moreau Gottschalk), New Orleans (Jelly Roll Morton), Sedalia, Missouri (Scott Joplin), and New York (George Gershwin, James P. Johnson, and even Percy Grainger).
For many listeners a whole disc of nothing but piano rags could quickly grow tedious and repetitive, but Coleman’s recital is far more thoughtful and varied, taking us on a journey both chronological and logical in terms of musical/stylistic relationships and influences, showing for instance, the contextual significance of “Jelly Roll” Morton relative to Scott Joplin, George Gershwin, and James P. Johnson. We also hear, in his masterful, sumptuously “orchestrated” concert versions of The Man I Love and Love Walked In, Percy Grainger’s profound admiration for Gershwin’s music, and we’re given a rare chance to revel in the exceptionally well-crafted and very agreeable Danzas Cubanas of Ignacio Cervantes. There’s much more here–and Coleman’s erudite liner notes are a must-read if you really want to learn as well as listen–but by now you get the idea that this recording is considerably more than a pleasant piano recital.
And regarding the performance, Coleman is a wonderful artist, fully immersed in her material and as respectful of its unique interpretive aspects as she is consistent in her technical execution. Happily, she makes a point of honoring Gottschalk’s admonition to “play exactly as written” and Joplin’s reminder that “it is not correct to play ragtime fast.” She plays with clean lines and maintains the accurate rhythmic pulse so crucial to making syncopation sound, well, syncopated! And her rendition of the Gershwin/Grainger Love Walked In is itself worth the price of the disc. The sound, from the Eugene Goossens Hall in Sydney, Australia, is full-bodied and resonant and very true to the piano’s natural timbre. This is a terrific disc, an hour of pure pleasure! [6/6/2006]
