Prestidigitations: Contemporary Concert Rags by J.L. Zaimont (2007)

Judith Lang Zaimont is primarily known as a composer of "serious" music, with a long career in academia at the Peabody Conservatory and the University of Minnesota, but this album of her "concert rags" shows a lighter side of her work and a strong populist touch. The CD includes works for piano solo, piano duet, piano and flute, and small ensemble. Zaimont's rags don't stretch the form with the harmonic loopiness or outrageous virtuosic demands of William Albright's or William Bolcom's, written in the '60s at the beginning ... Read More

Judith Lang Zaimont is primarily known as a composer of "serious" music, with a long career in academia at the Peabody Conservatory and the University of Minnesota, but this album of her "concert rags" shows a lighter side of her work and a strong populist touch. The CD includes works for piano solo, piano duet, piano and flute, and small ensemble. Zaimont's rags don't stretch the form with the harmonic loopiness or outrageous virtuosic demands of William Albright's or William Bolcom's, written in the '60s at the beginning of the ragtime revival, but they are inventive, strongly lyrical, and have an easy charm. Zaimont creates a variety of moods, from the relaxed Lazy Beguine to the kinetic Bubble-Up Rag, but more often than not, the pieces tend to be more introspective and slower-paced than classic rags. Serenade, which probably would not technically be classified as a rag, is especially lovely -- lyrical and melancholy with elegiac harmonies. The CD offers three versions of Reflective Rag, for piano,... Read Less