MUSIC REVIEW : SCHULLER LEADS RAGS

There may be no more irresistible style of American music than ragtime. The catchy rhythms, easy-to-grasp chord formulas and whistleable tunes seem to appeal to all tastes--particularly if translated into the sort of lively chamber-orchestra settings offered by Gunther Schuller and his outstanding New England Ragtime Ensemble, Saturday night and Sunday afternoon at Ambassador Auditorium.

The mood was decidedly upbeat at the Saturday event, with Schuller serving in his customary role of witty host and strolling time-beater for various rags by such giants as Scott Joplin, Jelly Roll Morton and Eubie Blake.

As a conductor, Schuller was hardly taxed. Here is music so generally predictable that he had only to make sure every “Oom” was followed in kind by a properly spaced “Pah.”

And here were players so confident on their instruments that Schuller might have strolled off for a glass of sparkling cider without being missed. Those instrumentalists drawing the bulk of the applause from the large audience included clarinetist Bruce Creditor, pianist John West (featured in an intriguing solo rag by Artie Matthews) and drummer Mark Belair.

Repertory ranged from the inevitable “Maple Leaf” Rag of Joplin--but not, praise be, the equally inevitable “Entertainer”--to a pair of recent rags, by tuba player Rob Carriker and by Schuller himself. The latter piece, dubbed “Ambassador” Rag by the composer, proved to be his first stab at the form. It sounded pretty much like any of a dozen rags written 70 years previously.