Stoptime Rag

While Joplin was busy working on his opera Treemonisha in 1910, he somehow found time to write the brilliant Stoptime Rag. Foot stamping (or 'stomps') had already become a mainstay of ragtime performance and 'stoptime', or literally stopping the music in order to introduce a heart-wrenching silence or a 'stomp', was becoming very popular. For the very first time Joplin gives the tempo indication, 'Fast or slow', in other words, that the foot movements of the performers should govern the speed, rather than the music. The result is an exhilarating fun-filled romp, full of both musical hiccups and nonstop semiquavers.

This arrangement was specially made for the album 'Preludes, Rags and Cakewalks' (MPR 005), performed by The Symphonic Brass of London conducted by Eric Crees. All of the transcriptions are new and original, making this a world premiere recording.