CD

„Ragtime Beauties“
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The Cascades (Scott Joplin) / Weeping Willow (Scott Joplin) / Cotton Bolls (Charles Hunter) / The Entertainer (Scott Joplin) / The Richmond Rag (May Aufderheide) / Bethena (Scott Joplin) / Reindeer Rag (Joseph F. Lamb) / Ragtime Nightingale (Joseph F. Lamb) / Grace and Beauty (James Scott) / Don’t Jazz Me – Rag (I’m Music) (James Scott) / Pastime Rag Nr. 5 (Artie Matthews) / Top Liner Rag (Joseph F. Lamb) / Scott Joplin’s New Rag (Scott Joplin) / A Totally Different Rag (May Aufderheide) / Rooster Rag (Muriel Pollock) / Solace (Scott Joplin) / Pickles and Peppers (Adeline Shepherd)

from the review “Ragtime Reviews” by Jack Rummel, April 2015
“Ragtime has found enthusiastic audiences in Europe and recordings by artists from many European countries have been available for some time.  Germany, however, has been a notable exception – until now.  Marcus Schwarz is classically trained and has been teaching piano in his homeland since 1995. […] Schwarz has a confident command of his instrument and his renditions are very well done.  His touch is firm but not strident and his use of the full dynamic range is impressive.  The tempo he has chosen for each piece is uniquely appropriate and he adheres closely to the printed score from beginning to end.  […] It might be tempting for some folks to pass over this disc because they already have recordings of these pieces elsewhere in their libraries, but that would be a mistake, for the contents are extremely satisfying from the first note to the very last.  Picking favorites is almost impossible, but Charles Hunter’s ‚Cotton Bolls‘, Joseph Lamb’s ‚Top Liner Rag‘ and May Aufderheide’s ‚A Totally Different Rag‘ would be in contention.
Special mention should be made of the liner notes, which are generous, very accurate and are printed in both German and English. […]  This recording deserves praise.  Marcus Schwarz represents Germany very well as an interpreter of ragtime.  Let this debut disc not be his last!”