George Winston - Piano Solos (1973) (reissued as Ballads And Blues 1972 - The Early Recordings)

Seven years before George Winston became Windham Hill's breakout star, he released his debut album 'Piano Solos' on John Fahey's Takoma label.  Windham Hill reissues, titled 'Ballads And Blues 1972', started from 1981, to make these formative recordings available to the new audiences brought in by Winston's success.

It's a short and sweet, fun little record that packs in all of Winston's early influences on his playing.  The impressionistic, 'New Age' pianism from Autumn onwards is only hinted at here, in a set of bluesy originals, covers (including Fahey's Brenda's Blues) and traditional melodies that cleave more closely to their roots.  Even so, Winston's talents on the piano are clearly fully-formed, and listeners who might not be as receptive to 'New Age' piano music will probably like this better than Winston's later recordings.

Original LP cover

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Previously posted at SGTG: Autumn | December

Joshua Rifkin - Piano Rags By Scott Joplin (1987 compi, rec. 1970-74)

Just some great piano music from 110-120 years ago - let it never be said I don't keep up with the hip and happening trends in modern music.  These recordings were made in the 1970s by pianist & musicologist Joshua Rifkin, and released in three volumes; this CD reissue contains all of Vol. 1 from 1970 (Nonesuch's first million-seller), plus highlights from the others (original releases '72 and '74).  Around this time, The Sting hit cinemas, and that plus a handful of other key ragtime recordings all fed into a fresh revival of an often maligned and misconstrued musical form.

Rifkin's performances of the piano rags by Scott Joplin (1868-1917) were hugely important in their reverential, serious treatment, presenting ragtime as something of equal worth to classical music.  In Joplin's case, it's well deserved - he honed the emerging syncopated piano style of the late 19th century to a fine art, full of harmonic life and great subtleties.  To make sure this wasn't overlooked, Joplin noted on many of his original scores "Do not play fast - It is never right to play ragtime fast", and Rifkin keeps both tempi and dynamics in check (unless the piece genuinely demands otherwise) to let this gorgeous music speak for itself.  I chanced across this CD a few weeks back and it's been in heavy rotation ever since - I'd only heard the evergreen opening pair of tunes before, but there's so much more to Joplin than that, and new joys emerge with every listen.

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