Who do you trust among the critics?
Tue, May 8 2012, 7:41AM
#2
RE: Who do you trust among the critics?
Bryce Morrison, in his self-defence over the Hatto affair, blames
Sony’s sound for not being as good as the Concert Artist sound to the extent
that it can ‘subtly, even radically, alter one’s appraisal’.
I don't know what to think Mike. Wikipedia has this: "the CDs
ascribed to Hatto had been discovered to contain copies, in some cases
digitally manipulated (stretched or shrunk in time, re-equalised and
rebalanced), of published commercial recordings made by other artists".
so the fraud was quite elaborate. I would be interested in making my own comparisons as this is such a bizarre story, but I doubt that that would be possible now.
Tue, May 8 2012, 11:19PM
#3
RE: Who do you trust among the critics?
I don't know what to think Mike. Wikipedia has this: "the CDs ascribed to Hatto had been discovered to contain copies, in some cases digitally manipulated (stretched or shrunk in time, re-equalised and rebalanced), of published commercial recordings made by other artists".
so the fraud was quite elaborate. I would be interested in making my own comparisons as this is such a bizarre story, but I doubt that that would be possible now.
It certainly was elaborate. The saddest aspect is that, judging by the Bax Symphonic Variations recording which is still, as far as I know, accredited to the real Hatto, she was a very fine pianist. I just bought the Wass version and even though it's an improvement on the Fingerhut, the Hatto is better.
Wed, May 9 2012, 8:33AM
#4
RE: Who do you trust among the critics?
There is a phrase 'If you had an infinate number of monkeys sitting at typewriters (It's an old phrase) then you would eventually get the works of Shakespeare'. If you had an infinate number of monkeys sitting at pianos, would you eventually get the works of Joyce Hatto?
Anyway, it's not important to this forum, since I doubt anybody reads French Classical Music magazines.
OK but a critic of international importance is of interest here - Hurwitz seems to be in that category - is Huss?
Parla, thanks for the contralto names - I suppose it's possible that there was a contralto nominated but not voted for, but I can't check now as the nominees seem to have disappeared from the website.
'After silence, that which comes nearest to expressing the inexpressible is music'.
Aldous Huxley brainyquote.com