Joshua Rifkin

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Rifkin
Artist Genre
Classical
Jazz
Biography (Excerpt)

Joshua Rifkin, the renowned musicologist, conductor, and keyboardist, is an esteemed scholar of Baroque music and, in particular, J.S. Bach. He put his Baroque expertise to use in one of Nonesuch’s earliest releases, The Baroque Beatles Book, and a recording of Bach’s Mass in B Minor. His landmark collection of Scott Joplin’s piano rags almost single-handedly helped fuel the 1970s ragtime revival.

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Joshua Rifkin, the renowned musicologist, conductor, and keyboardist, is an esteemed scholar of Baroque music and, in particular, J.S. Bach. He studied music at The Juilliard School, NYU, the University of Gottingen, and Princeton University, and put his Baroque expertise to use in one of Nonesuch’s earliest releases: The Baroque Beatles Book. Rifkin recorded the album while a 21-year-old staffer at the nascent label, in 1965, straight out of Juilliard; Nonesuch reissued the now classic album on CD in 2009.

Rifkin’s other releases for Nonesuch include a recording of Bach’s Mass in B Minor and, perhaps most famously, a landmark collection of Scott Joplin’s piano rags that heeded closely to the composer's own vision for the pieces and which almost single-handedly helped fuel the 1970s ragtime revival.

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Latest Release

  • $9 MP3
    Available
    The Baroque Beatles Book
    July 14, 2009

    Musicologist-conductor-pianist Joshua Rifkin’s The Baroque Beatles Book, featuring Baroque-era arrangements of the Fab Four’s Top 40 hits, is a milestone from the early days of Nonesuch Records and, over the years, has gained legendary status among Beatles fans and classical enthusiasts alike. Newsweek declared the collection “inspired”; the Boston Globe called it “brilliant.”

    Available

News

  • January 17, 2020
    Joshua Rifkin's Scott Joplin Piano Rags Recording Added to Grammy Hall of Fame

    Joshua Rifkin's 1970 Nonesuch recording of Scott Joplin piano rags—which ignited a national passion for ragtime jazz and, wrote New York magazine, "created, almost alone, the Scott Joplin revival" of the early '70s—has been inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame. Recordings in the Hall of Fame are at least twenty-five years old and exhibit qualitative or historical significance, determined by a committee of eminent and knowledgeable professionals from all branches of the recording arts, with final approval by the Recording Academy's National Board of Trustees.

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  • January 13, 2011
    Joshua Rifkin to Perform at New York's (Le) Poisson Rouge for 40th Anniversary of Nonesuch Joplin "Piano Rags" Album

    Four decades ago, Nonesuch Records released Joshua Rifkin's recordings of Scott Joplin's Piano Rags that went on to ignite a national passion for ragtime jazz and "created, almost alone, the Scott Joplin revival," as New York magazine wrote. On January 30, Rifkin will make his debut at New York's (Le) Poisson Rouge performing the music of Joplin and J.S. Bach in celebration of the 40th anniversary of the album.

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About Joshua Rifkin

  • Joshua Rifkin, the renowned musicologist, conductor, and keyboardist, is an esteemed scholar of Baroque music and, in particular, J.S. Bach. He studied music at The Juilliard School, NYU, the University of Gottingen, and Princeton University, and put his Baroque expertise to use in one of Nonesuch’s earliest releases: The Baroque Beatles Book. Rifkin recorded the album while a 21-year-old staffer at the nascent label, in 1965, straight out of Juilliard; Nonesuch reissued the now classic album on CD in 2009.

    Rifkin’s other releases for Nonesuch include a recording of Bach’s Mass in B Minor and, perhaps most famously, a landmark collection of Scott Joplin’s piano rags that heeded closely to the composer's own vision for the pieces and which almost single-handedly helped fuel the 1970s ragtime revival.

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