Cover design by “The Design Studio™ at
Disc Makers” A labor of love: William
Appling plays the complete solo piano
music of Scott Joplin (available April 1
from CD Baby, iTunes, and all online
stores)
Scott Joplin (c.1867-1917) is profiled
at AfriClassical.com, which features a
Bibliography and comprehensive Works
List by Dr. Dominique-René de Lerma,
http://www.CasaMusicaledeLerma.com.
Scott Joplin (c.1867-1917) is profiled
at AfriClassical.com, which features a
Bibliography and comprehensive Works
List by Dr. Dominique-René de Lerma,
http://www.CasaMusicaledeLerma.com.
Albert Imperator, Contributor
Arts Promoter, Co-founded 21C Media Group
03/31/2017
Composer anniversaries are often a big deal in
the world of classical
music, but sadly, the
centenary on April 1, 2017 of the death of Scott
Joplin has mostly gone by, at least thus far, with
very little notice. Except for a terrific feature by
Stuart Isacoff in this week’s Wall Street Journal,
I haven’t seen any other major-media tributes to
“The King of Ragtime,” who, to quote Isacoff,
“shepherded an American musical genre to new
heights of sophistication.”
My big Joplin moment came back in the early 1970s
when, like millions of
Americans, I left the premiere
of the now classic Robert Redford/Paul
Newman film
The Sting humming Joplin’s “The Entertainer”
(trying to master it on the piano became a near
obsession in the months,
if not years, afterwards).
Here was music of irresistible charm and joie de vi·vre,
with its trademark rhythms and lilting gait — an all-
American original!
But I suspected there was more to
this music than met the ear.
Fast forward nearly thirty years, when I received a call
from an industry colleague, Toby Tumarkin, who was
also a student of William Appling,
a beloved choral
conductor, pianist, arranger and educator. Knowing I
was a music promoter, he asked me if I would do him
a favor and meet
with Bill, who was working on a big
Joplin project that might be
interesting to hear about.
Soon after, I met Bill for lunch, and I
immediately fell
under his spell. He was wise, soft-spoken, gracious
and
brilliant, and he knew just about everything about
Joplin, whose music
he had discovered relatively recently.
“I want to perform and record all
of it,” he told me. “This
is the music of a genius, and more Americans
need to
know about it.” There was nothing I could really do to
help him
at this point—there was nothing yet to promote—
but for a few subsequent
years we would get together on
occasion for another meal, another
brainstorm, and another
long talk. His insight into music, his gentle
ways, his deeply
spiritual aura, and so many other qualities, touched me
greatly. But then, for a long while, I didn’t hear from him,
and in
2008 I learned from Toby that Bill had passed away.
Fast forward again, this time to December 2016, when I
received a note from Bill’s friend and colleague William
McClelland,
who told me the most extraordinary news:
just before his death,
William Appling had indeed finished
recording of all the rags, waltzes
and marches of Scott
Joplin. McClelland—a composer and pianist himself,
as well
as the founder of Bag Snaggers, a company which
manufactures
the only patented tool ever designed to take
plastic bags out of
trees!—knew and worked with Appling
for many years, producing four
recordings by William
Appling Singers & Orchestra on the Albany and
New World
record labels.
The new four-CD Joplin set will be released on April 1,
exactly 100
years after the Texas-born composer’s death,
at age 49, in New York
City. In the Q & A below, McClelland
tells us more about William
Appling and why his revelatory
new recording might connect a new
generation of listener’s
to Joplin’s indisputable genius.
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