I. Graceful Ghost II. The Poltergeist III. Dream Shadows Jeffrey LaDeur, Piano Live from the April in Santa Cruz Festival of Contemporary Music April 16, 2014
Fabulous performance of The Poltergeist! The swing is excellent, the raucousness so fun! Elegant handling of Dream Shadows despite the fistfulls of challenging chords! Way to go.
I've been playing Ghost Rag 1 and 3 for years....(*2 still eludes my fingering.) but they keep changing in the phrasing and the swing or Slow drag....I absolutely adore the Bolcom rags....LOVE>...and Respect.
Paul Jacobs did this piece (in particular) with such longing and beauty that believed I would never hear them again in the same way. You have cracked that egg, Mr. LeDeur. Your performance has all the style with a teensy bit less sentimentality (a good thing in the right hands). I also heard chord voicings that I have not heard before. The quickening of the tempo in the second section ala Andante evokes a ramble along sidewalk cafes. The recap is perfect and slows the tempo and stretches...and the final section. perfection. I confess that Jacob's tempo is slower and on the right day and time I might prefer it slower. But wow: bravo!! Consummate musicianship. The last few notes seem to reference Crumb', don't they? ;-)
Sound is a little muffled, but that may just be the acoustics of the room you're in. The playing is very nice; you clearly understand these pieces, and it's rare to hear all three done together. Thank you.
Beautiful! The perfect tempo and dynamics. Most performances turn the rhythm into a burlesque, which I think neither Bolcom nor Scott Joplin countenanced. A gentle syncopation is more elegant, and far more beguiling, than cleavage plunging in a Mississippi meander down a red-light alley of N'awlins.
@@ciararespect4296 Butlesque in the broadest sense of self-caricature--en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burlesque I think ragtime went through a cutsie stage after Joplin died, with white performers going beyond syncopation by adding a swing rhythm, as if all music by African-American musicians had to sound jazzy. But I don't think Scott Joplin ever intended a pause, then strong accent, on the off-beat--it detracts from the guileless sincerity of ragtime, I feel.
I watched some youtubes of William Bolcom's friend, the fine composer C. Curtis Smith playing his own music and he used the score. I'll never feel shy about doing that again. I'd rather have the composer's instructions sitting right in front of me instead of relying on my memory of what those were. The results prove the wisdom of doing what you feel best.
Love your interpretation. Haven't found any recordings of "Dream Shadows" apart from the John Murphy complete Bolcom rags discs, and he takes too many liberties with the time IMO.
Ian Walker Thanks so much Ian- Dream shadows is a bit elusive, I suppose it's true to it's title that way. Paul Jacobs called it a 'white telephone rag" which I love!
My Friend. That is the whole point. Er...? The very name is RAG TIME...ie. taking liberties with the time or 'ragging the time.' That's what Rag means! It's not a matter of opinion...It's the definition of the genre. This guy is an astounding pianist but is certainly not playing Rag-time nor anything like it. You may well like it..I love it but Rag Time it is not. It's very difficult to have a foot in classical playing and in jazz or semi-jazz. Some do pull it off. His sensitivity is more applicable to Chopin or Debussy. Scott Joplin he is not. Too pretty. Too co-ordinated. Too dependant on classical interpretations. Not rhythmic. Too Colla Voce.. in fact, too damned polite but astounding technique.
Do not confuse "ragging" with rubato. The former means to syncopate the tune over a steady pulse accompaniment. Ragtime is, first and foremost, a genre of popular dance and march music. These contemporary pieces by Bolcom are not therefore rags in the purest sense, but rather salon pieces which skillfully employ and expand upon the rhythmic and harmonic mannerisms of ragtime and early jazz piano. The rubato is indicated frequently in his scores, something rarely (if ever) indicated in the canon of Classic Ragtime.
First, many thanks to you for playing these delightful rags and sharing them on RU-vid! You are a natural talent and play with great musicality and sensitivity! Your performance of "Poltergeist" is amazing! Unlike ages 5 to 14, I am unable to memorize music now. I'm not your teacher so I won't say much more, EXCEPT, I think your playing of the first and third rags would be more consistent and effective if you practiced "the notes" so much that you COULD play them by memory! There is NO DOUBT as to your sensitive musicality. I just hypothesize you might be freed up from reading the notes, thus being able to listen and THINK about where you are and where you want to go, i.e. dynamics and overall arc of the pieces. YOU HAVE GOT THE SENSITIVITY AND MUSICALITY GALORE. YOU ARE A NATURAL TALENT. Whew! I just want to make sure you do not feel criticized. Also, I bet you are a great sight-reader, yes? The audio is good, but I am unable to discern if you are playing with a collapsed pinkie? I'll be enjoying this performance often -- always a thumbs-up from me!
Seriously! If you haven't internalized these pieces well enough to play them by memory then you shouldn't be performing them in public for a paid audience.
I still think this sentiment is rediculous, the whole memorising sheet music stunt was only popularised by Liszt (and a few other of course around that time period) as a sort of "stunt". I think performers should just be able to do whatever they're comfortable with as we all have our strengths and weaknesses !
