Virginia Eskin - American Beauties: The Rags of Joseph Lamb
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CD Details
Artist: Virginia EskinComposer: Joseph Lamb
Performer: Joseph Lamb
Edition: Music CD
Format: Original recording reissued
CD Release Date: 2000-05-23
Music Label: Koch Int'l Classics
Soundtracks:
- Walper House Rag
- Alaskan Rag for piano
- Ragtime Reverie
- Brown Derby No. 2
- Alabama Rag
- Arctic Sunset
- Bird-Brain Rag for piano
- Cottontail Rag
- Hot Cinders
- Ragtime Bobolink
- The Old Home Rag
- Firefly Rag
- Thoroughbred Rag
- Toad Stool Rag
- Sensation for piano
- Ethiopia
- Excelsior Rag
- American Beauty Rag for piano
- Patricia Rag
- Nightingale Rag
Music reviews of American Beauties: The Rags of Joseph Lamb
Music Review: Good recording of somewhat neglected works
Rating: 4 Stars
A very good recording of infrequently recorded works and I glad to have it. As with Fluffy Ruffle Girls, it has the benefits of modern technology (clean sound) and deficits of generic pianism, played well but as if for a formal recital, or even a contest jury, without even a whiff of the sporting house origins of the genre. I prefer the middle of the road, technically clean, easy on the improvisation, but leaning away from the studio and the concert hall, as represented by Richard Zimmerman, Sue Keller and Perfessor Bill. There are some others who inject more "flavor", speed and a really rinky tink instrument as well to come off like authentic era mechanical pianos on 78's but are still fun to have around. The amount of sleeze you want with your ragtime is definitely a matter of taste (or perhaps obsessive historicity comparable to the seething furor over Baroque music performance).
My bone to pick with Virginia Eskin is her wearing a feminist revisionist agenda on her sleeve (and her front, back and forehead as well it appears). It is admirable to give exposure to a worthy body of neglected works by women, as in Fluffy Ruffle Girls, when few are aware that such works ever existed. (I might venture that to the general public today ragtime itself consists of little more than the soundtrack of "The Sting", if that.) It is another to assert that these works are actually superior to the entire body of ragtime music composed by men with the single exception of Joseph Lamb. In the notes to this (American Beauties) CD she makes the incredible statement that until she heard Lamb she had been under the impression that all the good ragtime had been written by women! Unless somehow she managed to completely avoid Joplin's well known work with over a dozen solid masterpieces of the genre, it is simply an astounding statement. If she wants to dismiss the vast body of mass-produced sludge, most of it attributable to men, that flooded the market during the ragtime era I would join her (and you can see a bunch of it at http://ucblibraries.colorado.edu/music/smp/browse.htm). If she wants to dismiss James Scott I might understand. His works are the most vigorous of the big three, more difficult than Joplin, and he deserves his spot among the top three men of the era but I find them superficial, collectively one-dimensional, and even mechanical (ideal for the piano roll, I have that CD for comparison) by comparison. They lack the depth and breadth found in Joplin and Lamb, especially the wide range of moods and styles found in Joplin. But she cannot reasonably dismiss Scott Joplin except as an act of pure idiosyncrasy or chip-on-shoulder provocation.
Description of American Beauties: The Rags of Joseph Lamb
Joseph Lamb, a white musician who lived from 1887 to 1960, was considered one of the major ragtime composers of his era. By the end of his life, he had fallen into total obscurity, and even the ragtime revival hasn't made him a household name. His rags are different in style from Scott Joplin's, generally briefer and simpler in construction but still filled with lovely melodies and unaffected charm. The "American Beauty Rag," from which this disc takes its name, is only one of Lamb's many delicious miniatures (most of them under three minutes). Virginia Eskin has the style of this music down perfectly. She plays with just the right tempos (a trifle faster than would be appropriate for most of Joplin) and a lyrical sensitivity that doesn't prevent her from showing rhythmic drive. We're used to more than 49 minutes of music on most CDs, but 20 of Lamb's rags in a row are enough for one listening session. Don't give up before you reach the last one, though; "Nightingale Rag" is one of Lamb's best. A fascinating byway in American music is effectively explored and presented in realistic sound. --Leslie GerberGeneral CDs
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