StringsMagazine.com: “Five Scenes from ‘Treemonisha’ by Scott Joplin, Arranged for String Quartet”

[“Five Scenes from ‘Treemonisha’ by Scott Joplin.” Arranged for string quartet by Graham Bastable. International Music Company, $23. (2007)]

The Scott Joplin page at AfriClassical.com explains Treemonisha was completed in 1910 but was first staged in January, 1972 in a concert performance. It was staged in Atlanta, Georgia by the Afro-American Music Workshop of Morehouse College and the Atlanta Symphony under Robert Shaw, conductor.

StringsMagazine.com

“Five Scenes from ‘Treemonisha’ by Scott Joplin

Arranged for string quartet by Graham Bastable.

International Music Company, $23.

“International Music Company editorial director and composer William Ryden, writing as Graham Bastable, has arranged five selections from Treemonisha for string quartet: 'We’re Goin’ Around,' 'Prelude,' 'Aunt Dinah Has Blowed De Horn,' 'Superstition,' and 'A Real Slow Drag.' Ryden has written 250 piano rags, so it’s not surprising that his arrangement shows a feeling for the form’s rhythmic vitality, a nice change from the many lugubrious ragtime string-quartet arrangements out there. Still, players might want to listen to a recording of the opera to get the right ragtime style and to resolve some doubtful harmonies in the parts. —I.K.”

Strings Magazine
Scott Joplin
Five Scenes From Treemonisha
International Music Company
Graham Bastable
Arranged For String Quartet