Treemonisha: A Real Slow Drag (Scott Joplin)

From the first-ever historically authentic orchestration of Treemonisha by Scott Joplin.
The Paragon Ragtime Orchestra and Singers
Rick Benjamin, conductor
with Anita Johnson, soprano

Act 3: A Real Slow Drag
Treemonisha, an opera in three acts by Scott Joplin
New World Records 80720-2
©2014 Anthology of Recorded Music, Inc.
All Rights Reserved.

[urfavragtimeguy]

We are lucky to have Treemonisha, because somebody in 1961 said that he found wet pieces of paper that were "rubbish." He almost threw it away,

[Dylonely_]

Such a pity Joplin’s opera failed to be produced at his time. This is so unfair, he was an outstanding composer…

[edwardpleasant]

Mr. Young, I'm very happy that you've had something to do with the proliferation of this American treasure. I am a proud participant in this recording and I beg to differ with your assessment of how this recording (which is closest to the actual manner in which Treemonisha was originally to be performed) "falls short." The scholarship of Mr. Benjamin is lauded universally and I trust his approach in this recording over Houston's approach which attempts to make Treemonisha something it was NEVER intended to be. Respectfully submitted.

[davidmersault]

Omg- 2:47 ! Made me stop what I was doing. What a lovely recording of a terrific piece!

[ballroom]

Now that the Metropolitan Opera House has staged Gershwin's "Porgy and Bess, " I hope the next step will be a performance of "Treemonisha." When that happens, I will be in the audience.

[danielpincus]

Can someone give the scene background and what they are singing about?

[horacealexanderyoung]

To both "Kafenwar" and Mr. Pleasant- The 1962 incident of the destruction of some of Joplin's scores, etc is actually a well documented story. Even if there was such a score by Joplin, it was not available in 1974-75 nor for this recording.To clarify my statements, there was no full score using any instrumentation, large or small, to be used by Mr. Schuller in his orchestral setting of the accompaniment. As I understand it, he worked from Joplin's notes as well. Whether his use of the larger instrumental setting or the smaller group of instruments used here is more of less of what Joplin would have wanted is speculation. Perhaps HGO wanted to give Joplin's work a greater showcase by using a larger, more elaborate instrumentation to pay homage to a great American composer that was overlooked by many facets of American society and the music world. It should be pointed out that Gunther Schuller formed and conducted a ragtime ensemble at the New England Conservatory of Music well in advance of his work on Treemonshia and that ensemble was very similar to the group of instruments used here. 
My comments were specifically about this recording of A REAL SLOW DRAG. In the "marching onward" section the use of a suggested "second-line" feel in the percussion seems a bit out of character with the traditional nature of Ragtime and it pulls against the pronounced emphasis on 1 and 3 that is typical of that style. 
In the end, It is commendable that more than one take on Joplin's work is available.

[horacealexanderyoung]

For the record, there is no historically authentic orchestration of TREEMONISHA. Joplin never scored this for any size of an orchestra. The piano score is the only true realization of the work that was written by Joplin himself. Gunther Schuller did an incredible orchestration of this for the Houston Grand Opera premiere of this in the mid '70s and the filmed version of 1981, in which I participated. this orchestration and the performance falls quite a bit short of either the recording or the filmed versions.

[jonathanjensen]

This is pleasant enough, but too slow. Joplin marks 100 to the quarter note which is still plenty leisurely.