An Evening of Ragtime and Harlem Stride

[Ricordanza]

Note: Although the music discussed in this post isn't "classical," the concert was presented by the Philadelphia Chamber Music Society as part of their Piano Recital Series. So I'm taking the liberty of posting this review here, rather than The Corner Pub.

As much as I enjoy a traditional piano recital—Beethoven, Chopin, Schumann, Liszt, etc.—it was refreshing for a change to attend a very untraditional recital by Aaron Diehl. Diehl, known primarily as a jazz pianist, presented a program on Wednesday evening, February 14, entitled “An Evening of Ragtime and Harlem Stride.” Although the printed program listed 20 pieces by 9 different composers, Diehl added to and subtracted from that printed program to present what was essentially a lecture-demonstration about the music produced by Black composer-pianists in the early part of the 20th Century.

I couldn’t take notes but here’s what stood out to me, not necessarily in the order played by Diehl:

Ragtime came to national attention with the 1973 movie, “The Sting,” which featured the music of Scott Joplin. So I was on familiar ground when Diehl played Joplin’s Easy Winners and the lovely, melancholy Solace (A Mexican Serenade). But I was intrigued by a piece entitled Dream Rag by a little-known predecessor of Joplin named Jesse Pickett.

“Jelly Roll” Morton’s music may fall within the ragtime category, but the influence of New Orleans jazz can be heard in his compositions, such as The Pearls. Morton also wrote a work to show off his piano virtuosity, appropriately entitled Finger Breaker. Diehl took a deep breath before launching into this ragtime toccata, and then showed the audience that he could surmount any technical challenge.

Diehl described Harlem Stride as “ragtime on steroids.” The term “stride” is based on the big leaps in the left hand, in other words, the pianist must “stride” across the keyboard. We heard Diehl perform representative works of the three leading exponents of Harlem Stride: James P. Johnson, Thomas “Fats” Waller, and Willie “The Lion” Smith.

Johnson’s Carolina Shout is a lively, spirited piece. Diehl asked the audience what “Fats” Waller was referring to in the title of his piece, Viper’s Drag. An audience member gave the correct answer: marijuana! Whatever may have inspired this piece, it’s certainly harmonically adventurous and a little wild. On the other hand, Smith’s Echoes of Spring has a dream-like, lyrical quality.

In another demonstration of his impeccable pianism, Diehl closed the program with a thrilling performance of Art Tatum’s Tiger Rag.

[Belle]

You were fortunate to enjoy this kind of concert. Once again, your appraisal was excellent. I know I would absolutely love it. (My mother played 'stride' piano at her flamboyant parties and this requires a certain muscularity to achieve - especially with beer under the belt!)

[diegobueno]

Classical music tends to become the curator of old forms of popular music, especially forms that exist in fully notated form, such as the waltz, and in this case ragtime. Back in the 1970s Joshua Rifkin's Joplin recordings introduced ragtime to classical musicians, and I recall as a music major in 1974 wandering down the hall where all the practice rooms were and hearing the Maple Leaf issuing stereophonically out of practice rooms from one end to the other.


I couple of decades later I knew that Scott Joplin had become truly legit when I saw an Edition Peters book of "Ausgewählte Rags" by Scott Joplin in the same green cover they use for other piano music.

As far as the connection of ragtime to its contemporaries in classical piano music, Artie Matthews didn't quite beat Henry Cowell or Leo Ornstein to the use of the tone cluster, but he came pretty close with his Pastime Rag no. 4 of 1920.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4d0hRZc9u_8