🎼🎹—THE—🎹—LAST—🎹—RAG—🎹🎵🎶

﴾THE LAST RAG﴿

by SoundEagle🦅 in 疾風知勁草

🎼 🎵 🎹🎹🎹🎹 🎶 🦅

The Last Rag

The Last Virtue is empty like a hall
The Last Romance shunts lovers
The Last Work is never done at all
The Last Square has no corners
The Last Smile is a lifetime before
The Last Shout comes from whispers
The Last Memory is beyond recall
The Last Rag echoes the golden eras

🎼 🎵 🎹🎹🎹🎹 🎶 🦅

1996 Original Edition

2010 Special Edition

Composed by SoundEagle🦅, The Last Rag comes in two versions as shown above: the 1996 Original Edition and the 2010 Special Edition.

The Last Rag can be performed or listened to as a self-contained work, though it is also the middle movement of the three-movement Second Piano Sonata entitled “The Time Beyond”.

The Last Rag was first performed by Professor Stephen Emmerson in a music recital at the Queensland Conservatorium Griffith University (formerly the Queensland Conservatorium of Music) in 1996, and was performed by David Pitman who played the Second Piano Sonata “The Time Beyond” on 9 October 1997 at the New Music Collective Concert held in the Recital Hall of Queensland Conservatorium Griffith University featuring SoundEagle🦅’s various compositions.

The Second Piano Sonata “The Time Beyond” (to which The Last Rag belongs) was also one of the major pieces featured at David Pitman’s final piano examination required for his Master’s Degree in Performance. The Last Rag was played by Professor Stephen Emmerson and recorded in the Orchestral Hall at Queensland Conservatorium by Daniel Fournier who, along with Peter Laughton, mastered all the edited tracks onto the CD entitled “The Rag Project” and released in 1998. More than a decade later, it had been fondly studied and played by Connie Stamatopoulou in 2009 and 2010.

The Last Rag had also been featured at least once on radio (in the vicinity of 2000 as the precise date is beyond recall) in one of the programmes hosted by Julian Day, an artist, composer and broadcaster who used to present the long-running experimental music programme called “New Music Up Late” as well as “Classic Breakfast and Afternoons” on ABC Classic FM.

The 2010 Special Edition of The Last Rag continues the salient features of the 1996 Original Edition further, including melodic angularity and atonality, contrapuntal textures, motivic extensions, thematic superpositions, harmonic piquancy, chromaticism, suspended tones, nuanced sonorities and dynamic expressiveness. Due to full-time filial commitments, both the score and the recording of the 2010 Special Edition are only just published by SoundEagle🦅 here in 2020.

Regardless of the degree to which the resulting composition may be regarded as an appropriation, reimagination or reinterpretation of classic Ragtime, The Last Rag has patently honoured the well-established tradition and true spirit of Ragtime in the process of sticking fairly closely to, whilst also deviating inventively from, the musical form of Ragtime. As the accompanying poem indicates, apart from conveying certain personal and philosophical messages, The Last Rag also serves as a meta-commentary or meta-narrative to Ragtime as a century-old genre, evoking nostalgia and contemplation, as well as simultaneously reflecting, acknowledging and transcending the eras and heritages of Ragtime and related genres. Overall, SoundEagle🦅 has sought greater freedom, unity, sophistication and expressiveness in The Last Rag to reach beyond the stereotype and confined scope of this unique genre whilst exploring innovative techniques to decisively push the envelope of the Ragtime vernacular and its vocabularies.

Those who have performed, orchestrated or analysed The Last Rag to a high standard are welcome to contact SoundEagle🦅 for the possibility of their work being featured.

Presented below is a list of the major components created and assembled by SoundEagle🦅 for this multimedia post. Clicking any of the listed items below will initiate an instantaneous jump to the corresponding section in 🎼🎹—THE—🎹—LAST—🎹—RAG—🎹🎵🎶.

• Enlargeable Banner with Caption and Description
• Special Heading with Animated Moths/Butterflies
• The Last Rag Poem
• The Last Rag Notes
• The Last Rag Poll
• The Last Rag Visualization
• Audio Playbacks
• Video Captures of Score with Music
• Gallery of Score Sheets
• Printable Scores
• Ragtime Encyclopaedia 🎼🎵🎹🎹🎹🎹🎶🦅
• Conversations between SoundEagle🦅 and Readers/Audience

🎼🎹—THE—🎹—LAST—🎹—RAG—🎹

The Last Rag
Visualization

Enjoy the Visualization of The Last Rag (1996 Original Edition).
Switch the YouTube player to full screen for best viewing.

The Last Rag
1996 Original Edition

🎼🎹—THE—🎹—LAST—🎹—RAG—🎹

The Last Rag
Music Videos

Read the scores whose pages have been synchronized to the music.
Switch each YouTube player to full screen for best viewing.

The Last Rag
1996 Original Edition

The Last Rag
2010 Special Edition

The Last Rag
played by Stephen Emmerson

🎼🎹—THE—🎹—LAST—🎹—RAG—🎹

The Last Rag
Music Scores

Click any of the 12 images below to reveal and comment on the enlarged music scores displayed in a full-size carousel view.

Page 1 (1996 original edition)

Page 2 (1996 original edition)

Page 3 (1996 original edition)

Page 4 (1996 original edition)

Page 5 (1996 original edition)

Page 6 (1996 original edition)

Page 1 (2010 special edition)

Page 2 (2010 special edition)

Page 3 (2010 special edition)

Page 4 (2010 special edition)

Page 5 (2010 special edition)

Page 6 (2010 special edition)

Printable Scores

1996 Original Edition
Pages: ①②③④⑤⑥

2010 Special Edition
Pages: ①②③④⑤⑥

🎼🎹—THE—🎹—LAST—🎹—RAG—🎹

Ragtime Encyclopaedia
🎼 🎵 🎹🎹🎹🎹 🎶 🦅

Visit the post entitled 🦅 SoundEagle in Art, Music and Ragtime 🎵🎹🎶 for a detailed, encyclopaedic discussion of the unique musical genre known as Ragtime.

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