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Alexander Scriabin’s Ragtime Band album cover

Album guide

Alexander Scriabin’s Ragtime Band

David Gordon Trio

Composers
Scriabin; Debussy
Released
2016
Label
Mister Sam Records
Forces
Trio, Piano
Personnel
David Gordon piano, Jonty Fisher bass, Paul Cavaciuti drums, with Calum Heath guitar

Alexander Scriabin’s Ragtime Band began with a broken arm. When one of David Gordon’s students injured her right arm, he returned to Scriabin’s Prelude for the Left Hand and heard tango and early-jazz possibilities within it. That discovery became “Prelude for Both Hands” and eventually the idea behind the album.

Gordon places Scriabin’s piano miniatures among music circulating around the time of the composer’s death in 1915, including ragtime, blues, tango, danzón and choro. The juxtapositions test Gordon’s belief that Scriabin’s harmonies and compact forms could find a natural place in a jazz repertoire.

Hear both

The classical side contains only the source pieces used on the album, in album order. The jazz side presents the complete album whenever a dependable copy can be embedded.

The originalsScriabin, Debussy · classical source works

The listening queues above follow the same order. The classical player omits tracks that are not based on a classical original.

Jazzed upDavid Gordon Trio · 2016
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Source works

The album’s complete track listing, with each classical source identified and original compositions marked plainly.

  1. Praeludium MysteriumScriabin: Prelude Op. 74 No. 2 (from 5 Preludes)
  2. Alexander Scriabin’s Ragtime BandIrving Berlin: Alexander’s Ragtime Band
  3. Scriabin’s DepressedScriabin: Prelude Op. 51 No. 2 (from 4 Pieces)
  4. CakewalkDebussy: Golliwogg’s Cake-walk from Children’s Corner, adapted by David Gordon
  5. Prelude for Both HandsScriabin: Prelude for the left hand, Op. 9 No. 1
  6. Famous EtudeScriabin: Etude Op. 8 No. 12
  7. Tres Lindas CubanasAntonio María Romeu: Tres lindas cubanas, a Cuban danzón
  8. NuancesScriabin: Nuances, Op. 56 No. 3 (from 4 Morceaux)
  9. Choro MazurkaScriabin: Mazurka Op. 25 No. 3, transformed into a Brazilian choro
  10. El PollitoFrancisco Canaro: El pollito, a tango
  11. Rootless SonataScriabin: Piano Sonata No. 4 in F-sharp major, Op. 30
  12. Improbable HipScriabin: Prelude Op. 67 No. 2
  13. PassinhaPixinguinha: Passinha, a Brazilian choro
  14. RiverScriabin: Mazurka Op. 25 No. 4