Marvin Hamlisch, Scott Joplin - The Sting: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack

The Rebirth of Ragtime

Marvin Hamlisch brought back to the public consciousness the musical career of Scott Joplin, though the movie is set about three decades after ragtime had run its course in American pop culture. But the music fit the mood of the con game and the soundtrack spent 41 weeks on the Billboard 200 album chart, peaking at number one in 1974.

The foundation piece is The Entertainer, which appears in orchestrated and piano versions and in a medley with Rag-Time Dance. Pine Apple Rag also appears in two versions, as its own track and as a medley with Gladiolus Rag.

The 13 tracks are perfect and there is a wonderful timelessness to the music.

November 12, 2008

As good as it gets

I bought this albumm on a whim, not having heard it for many years....the last time it was vinyl on a record player...but with great speakers!! It is as good as I remember. The music is tremendous, the atmosphere great and the arrangements of each track are simply fabulous. The quality of the sound deserves a mention too....excellent.
In a word or nine, this CD is well worth adding to any collection.

March 29, 2008

Bold, Bright and Fantastic

Listen to the samples of this CD and compare them to others. A full brass band performs Joplin fantastically. If you just want to hear Joplin's works on piano, this isn't for you. The bold, crisp blare of the band just blows you away. However, there is a downside. This is a movie soundtrack (The Sting). So, not all of the music is composed by Joplin. But, the Joplin tracks are performed so well it makes this CD is a "must buy." Listen to the samples and compare. Wow, this CD is great. August 3, 2007

"The Sting" is right!

Rarely is a record so aptly named. There are only 13 songs on it, two of which are repeated twice and one, three times! You wind up with less than 25 minutes of unduplicated music out of the 80 minutes a CD can hold. I would say $6's worth. OK, the music is fine, but at a $12 (list) price, this is definitely a fine argument for "pirates" who say they'd rather rip off the record companies than the other way around. March 28, 2004

Great soundtrack, excellent music clarity, quality.

The CD exceeded my expectations. I expected an average-quality sound from an older recording (since the movie The Sting was quite old). But the music quality is superb! The bass and treble are perfectly mixed and you can hear every sound, from the high-pitched clarinets to the tuba and bass-drum. May 28, 2003

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