John Arpin plays Ragtime Nightingale at the Bohem Festival

[PianoFatso]

Beautifully played and interpreted regardless of what the ragtime police have to say.

[ragtimist]

It's perfect.

[RicAbapo]

Again, i am back to John Arpin's music. OMY, i am just so in-love with this again! I couldn't be any happier!

[mdmphd]

Something he clearly enjoyed - he had a touch and nuance for the keys. Technology rocks for being able to save his talent for us. Thanks for posting.

[RicAbapo]

oh God how i love ragtime! :)

[infey]

What a beautiful interpretation and control of dynamics.

[ancientone22]

This a fine pianist ....He has a true understanding of style and performance ..... no amateur here....

[ianjcameron]

What IS all this? It conforms perfectly to ragtime 'rules'. It's ragged time. Period. What other 'rules' are there? Joplin's "Ragtime must be played slowly?" Well, this is slow. It's not typical, but a foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds.

[diapason007]

A lovely rendition. I'm a great fan of Joseph Lamb & of John Arpin too!

[Meloontunes]

Alejandrogaby, you know absolutely nothing about music. This is performed just as the composer would have wanted it performed.

[LillyC68]

Thanks a lot for sharing!

I always loved that piece and enjoyed listening very much,

Lilly

[pianoman1984]

here I finally found recording of this beautiful rag the way I would play it if I could. I think it is perfect...

[darklight436]

i don't see the difference, sounds like classical piano, not ragtime at all

[CaliTrisha]

So beautiful. Thank you for posting. RIP Mr. Arpin

[CooCurrent]

After watching this a few times, i can see it's really excellent. You can clearly see how connected to the music he is!

[GoTFCanada1230]

I can feel it... the romance when a couple sits by the moonlight... It's a sweet feeling... John Arpin will live on...

[bulbheadmyass]

Fantastic playing. Thanks for sharing this.

[mewhite1528]

Yes he was truely a great pianist. I am just amazed at how beautiful this rag is when he plays. This is

my favorite rag onYouTube and it isn't easy to pick out a favorite. I wish I would have seen him perform this live. Fantastic

[vimana19]

The guy is a classical pianist. Concert standard I'd guess.

[likemyviolin]

John Arpin, óriási zenész, élmény volt őt hallghatni élőben és beszélni vele. (Habár ez a "halál" ez ilyen földi téma, én pl. rettentően unom). Úgyis, az igazi nagyok halhatatlanok...

[lauraneville]

meltingly beautiful...thank you for this wonderful version...

[maurofoil]

esecuzione che senz'altro fa sognare!

[C3P0meetsData]

@maurofoil

Random Italian! Sí!

[greasepuddle]

That was simply incredible. The best ragtime piano I've ever heard. That was heartbreakingly beautiful. What a brilliant player.

[maddenjunkies]

This is my goal!  His legacy lives on.

[ChrisPatuzzo]

The control on those trils towards the end must take a lot of skill.

[38pasadena]

While the St. Louis ivory ticklers had a very stern set of rules concerning their performances, the Eastern seaboard bunch, including Lamb, were far more loose, given to tempo changes and their own improvisations at whatever point they chose: two "styles" of early ragtime, yes, and one does not negate the other. The beauty in Arpin's interpretation is simply outstanding to those of us who have listened and read as carefully as one should.

[girljazzlvr]

Love this - excellent performance.

[Alejandrogaby]

He adds some novelty piano licks, and does them same every time. If he is going to make an arrangement he should look for contrast, but I guess John Arpin was not a great improviser.

[ByePaulette]

What a useless Critic.

[Alejandrogaby]

Please respond using musical terms

[Fragglezed]

If you're going to break music down to pure terms and technical devisions, then all you're succeeding in doing, Alajandrogaby, is destroying what music is supposed to do and be.

Okay, so it doesn't conform to Ragtime rules, so what? It sounds great, and people enjoy it. How could you possibly fault it??

[AurignyATR72]

I believe that Ragtime is all about interpretation and feeling. It's like the Blues(slower with hope) and also European Classical music(hence the different style to the Blues). As long as you enjoy it, it's ragtime!

[RagingForce]

Exactly!

Alejandrogaby quit being a fag

[CooCurrent]

@Fragglezed I agree

I know all the rules. But if the rules don't fit, I break the rules rather than the music.

[GeneralHobog]

He really looks like he's enjoying himself. :)

[rboneh]

Marvellous! Thanks for sharing.

[strausss]

Well said fobohem. The great thing about the piano is that it is an instrument which can be used to convey all different shades of emotion and the performer should use it as a tool to personalize his/her feelings while playing it.

[Squarerig]

I am no musician and thus cannot comment on style or pace but,yes,I know,the tiresome "but",this is lovely music played so lightly and yet precisely.Thank you all.

[fobohem]

putrid11 & aardvaark069: Mr. Arpin knew most of the important ragtime and jazz figures including Mr. Lamb. You probably haven't seen the enthusiasm on the face of Patricia, J. Lamb's daughter who just simply loved Arpin's playing. Music (ragtime included) is not something that HAS TO BE PLAYED this or that way. It ain't music then. You surely never met John Arpin and never talked to him about music and life. His playing reflects his personality. He exactly knew what style and music is about.

[Alejandrogaby]

Excuse me, I don`t what kind of relationship Arpin had with Lamb`s daughter. I just know that his playing doesn`t sound like ragtime. Doesn`t have a beat. You cannot dance to it, sincopation is not stressed enough, ahd there are fermattas all over the place, in exactly the same spot, it gets kind of boring don`t you think. He takes away all the excitement ragtime should have and replaces it with finesse and delicaty which belong somewhere else

[MusicalYoshi]

I agree.

and

*Most rag performers that I see are aged people with beards.

[TheBestRichy]

Rubbish sir, it is fine to play ragtime as a concert rag, any afficianado knows the difference. There is a nice piece on you tube with Eubie Blake playing an exceprt for Chopin's Funeral March (PC No 2). Ragtime can be exciting, fast, base but it can also be 'concert' as well.

[joejoejoe532]

@Alejandrogaby Non-conformance to ragtime nuances, this may be. But it won't stop me from enjoying it! Although after several times listening, the inconstant temple does get to me a little.

[aardvaark069]

Musta got this from Liberace himself. It surely ain't Lamb. Kinda nice in a cocktail loungey kinda way.

[putrid11]

Where's the beat???? Did Mr. Arpin, a noted pianist, never listen to Lamb's own recordings. This is, pardon the expression, "faggoty cocktail piano", not ragtime which is pop dance music not Chopin, despite Lamb's lifting of the opening left hand passage from a Chopin etude. Arpin is dropping mordents like dandruff...it is truly annoying.

[rupepill]

The contemptible and snide attack by a tall poppy lopper, posting as putrid, shows little taste or accuracy other than in his or her selection of a poison pen name.

What an engaging and engaged performance this is. Many thanks for posting it.

[gdw1910]

Touché. It is an Arpin performance, masterful. Great players play popular music their own way. Eubie, Fats, Zez, Bernard, Alpert...all made it their own. John's playing and our memories of him will be around long after creeps like putrid are dead.

[livingaragtimelife]

I have always thought that Max Morath set the standard for this rag with its delicious phrasing and poignancy and lilt. But this version is mighty, mighty beautiful. I like it just about as well! And I'd give anything to hear Mr. Arpin's take on "American Beauty."

[Suipacha764]

GR8 song

[ikitoki]

Wow... beautiful :O

[nickus32000]

I had his recording of this piece and it had very little embelishments but these are both very tasteful performances. Out of all the ragtime pianists I heard he has by far the best phrasing.

[Shademastermcc]

That is exactly what I have always thought. He adds just the right amount of volume in just the right areas. I get the phrasing very similar to his, but I can't add the number of notes that he adds. I can't even to listen to other recordings after hearing his. (Besides mine of course :D)

[andaysa]

i love that rag, but it like it more in the documentary of Crumb

[nathanmickle]

Wow. I've never heard a better performance of this rag.

[sbkynetik]

great performance, I mean - the man's got talent, but he needs to be out there, not performing for a stage full of middle class toffs. That man needs to be in the ACTION!

[tmartinfsa]

Um, you might want to pay attention to the description of the video. If you had read it, you would have noticed that John Arpin died in Sept 2007. It's gonna be a bit tough for him to "get out there."

[steinwaygrande1]

It would be wonderful if he was out there , not performing for a bunch of middle class toffs , but sadly he died not so long ago from the dreaded damn Cancer !

[EPENAEED]

what a great video... what a music, I know that piece however that is...miles away from anything else I even hear...

thanks for that...5s

[slavophile1]

5 stars!

[tdub1941]

Another perfect performance!

5 STARS!

Tom Warner

[captaintrub]

This guy adds some great improvisational touches without changing the integrity of the piece. He's good. I especially like the trio.