Some years ago I bought Max Morath's two cd's "The World of Scott Joplin" 1-2 and turned them into a double album. In the total of 26 rags Joplin is of course dominating with 11 tunes, but there are also fine examples on the compositions of James Scott, Joseph Lamb, Arthur Marshall plus a few newer compositions including two of his own. All beautiful, all beautifully performed! Morath has in his own words been living "a ragtime life" since childhood, grown up as he is in a ragtime-interested family and having performed himself since 1948. And you can hear that: Playing ragtime to him never becomes routine, but an ever ongoing love affair with the music and the style. And so it is an ever ongoing pleasure to the listener to listen closer and closer into his phrasing, his handling of the chords, his hardly hearable rythmical variations - in all, his supreme art of playing the piano. The sound quality is perfect - a more intimate music hall or club sound than the concert hall sound of the Rifkin recordings.
Morath is in my opinion by far the best ragtime pianist, and my best advice is: Save your postman for an extra ride and order both of them all at once. And when you have heard them a few times you'll also want his "The Ragtime Man"!
