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Originally posted by Piano*Dad: Has Ivan Davis said anything publicly since the truth became known? He was one of Hatto's promoters, and his website used to extol her 'new' recordings. I would be curious to hear his take on how these diverse styles could impress him (and many others, to be fair) as the same person. Ivan Davis was one of the influential people in the music world who was methodically seduced and conned by Hatto and her husband. He was betrayed and it surely had to have been a painful experience for him. I doubt he wishes to discuss it on a public forum. I, too, briefly, was in email contact with Barrington-Coupe, as, I'm sure, many people were. I had heard of the Hatto CDs from many prominent critics and pianists and was eager to hear them. I placed my order on the Concert Artists website and found myself in contact with him. And the Concert Artists operation was designed to deceive. Barrington-Coupe, personally, handled my CD orders and offered personal glimpses into his life with Joyce. I had admired the Liszt/Bach Organ Prelude in A minor on her sampler disc (and told him so in an email). He responded, expressed gratitude, and commented on how this piece was part of her funeral ceremony. He offered other moving details of her funeral and wrote: "Joyce would have been moved that her recording of the Liszt inspired you to learn and perform it." It was difficult not to be moved by this widower's grief. And, as with others, it gave emotional power to the hoax. I write all of the above to try to explain how Barrington-Coupe and Joyce managed to defraud so many people. It was a very sophisticated "con," based on the exploitation of the best in human nature. That sounds malevolent, I know, but here's the key to it all: both Barrington-Coupe and his wife were delusional. They were ill. Not evil. Ivan Davis was in email contact with Joyce and her husband months before her death. He, like most of us, had been dazzled by the CDs. (Did Joyce author her own emails to Ivan, or did her husband? In retrospect, the question arises, but, based on the New Zealand radio interviews with Hatto, Joyce's emails to Ivan seem to conform with her peculiar manner of expression.) But during this email exchange, it was impossible not be convinced of the sincere and earnest tone of Joyce and Barry. I've read them. They are skillful manipulations of the best in human emotions. They are the works of experts in the art of the "long con." They appeal to the deepest hopes in all of us: that there are extraodinary artists out there who have been shunned by critics, who are unknown, yet, who have perservered despite all odds. And, with Joyce, there was a tissue of past performance history that contained tantalizing hints that maybe, just maybe, a great artist was overlooked. That she was a woman, a cancer sufferer, an artist discriminated against by a critic for looking ill, only garnered more sympathy. But, then again, that "history" was fabricated by Barry. Ivan, and the rest of us, did not know this. In retrospect, it is hard to believe how intelligent musicans could have been conned by this woman and her husband. Yes, how could any pianist have the supreme command of so many musical styles? But that's the question all of you who personally never came under the spell of Barrington-Coupe and his wife bring up repeatedly. It's rather arrogant of you. Had you been in contact with them, as some people were, you would have been subjected to an entirely different experience. I think "The New Yorker" article details this powerful psychological component to the hoax. If you can't understand it, if you can't empathize with those victimized by it, then I feel rather sorry for you. This hoax, of course, is about faith and trust. Those who trusted and were faithful were betrayed is the real story here. To those who wish to see Barrington-Coupe punished: well, I'm not a lawyer and I know little of British law, but I vaguely recall that plagiarism there is only punishable if one can demonstrate that harm was inflicted. So far, it would appear that the pianists' performances who were pilfered have actually gained from the notoriety. God knows, their recording label publicists hardly had the effect that this scandal has. That's nice symmetry when you think about it -- victims who are automatically compensated. And one final irony: in my effort to share this excellent New Yorker article with you, I found myself charged with "copyright infringement." I've proven that the charge is unwarranted, but I still wait for an apology. One I will never get, I'm sure. It seems like any connection with Joyce Hatto brings on unresolved controversy. Barrington-Coupe, who monitors websites, must be gratified by this. Barry, if you're out there, listen to this: in your deluded effort to please your wife and salve your own ego, you've hurt more people than you can imagine. You owe all of us an apology.
Ich grolle nicht.
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Originally posted by Aldous: So far, it would appear that the pianists' performances who were pilfered have actually gained from the notoriety. Yes, that was covered nicely in Robert von Bahr's letter in Gramophone. I'm certain you read that. But to throw out an accusation of arrogance? I have studiously read Gramophone since my mid teens, but when those Hatto reviews starting appearing again and again in the last several years, I smelled a rat. Plain and simple. I kept wondering: how was it that a pianist I had never heard of (and physical disabilites aside) would play the most difficult repertoire as well or better than the pianists in my collection? The music Hatto played -Liszt, Rachmaninov, Godowsky for example- was familiar to me, and I even have the scores to the Godowsky paraphrases which she supposedly so excelled at. Even the album covers reproduced in the reviews looked suspicious, and then when one of my favourite and trusted Gramophone reviewers -Bryce Morrison- went hog-wild over Hatto, I was tempted to look into it. But subconsciously it just didn't add up. It all made no sense to me, something looked wrong. So say what you will about me, yet when the news broke, I wasn't in the least bit surprised. I'm grateful Mr. Barrington-Coupe never made any money off me.
Jason
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Aldous - I do indeed have sympathy with those who, like yourself, were duped. This couple were such masters of the art of fraud that they convinced many intelligent and knowledgeable people by the cheap means of playing on their better nature, their human sympathies. That is why I feel disgusted - I don't think they should be excused on the grounds of "illness".
I'm not sure that what they did was plagiarism - it seems like theft to me.
sophial wrote: maryrose, I think Hatto had been out of the public eye and ear long enough that very few if any could have recognized her personal style of playing.
I wasn't suggesting that anyone would know how she sounded, but that it might have been suspicious to hear one pianist with so many diverse styles.
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Originally posted by sophial: maryrose, did they ever figure out who performed the Mephisto Waltz recording?
Sophia As of today (Feb. 18) the pianist has been identified, by Farhan Malik, as Janina Fialkowska, who has quite an incredible back-story of her own! and is concertizing today. Details and various links are at my http://www.andrys.com/hatto.html#news - Andrys
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Thanks, Andrys, for the update!
Sophia
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Originally posted by Andrys:
Sophia As of today (Feb. 18) the pianist has been identified, by Farhan Malik, as Janina Fialkowska, who has quite an incredible back-story of her own! and is concertizing today. - Andrys [/QB][/QUOTE] I don't know Fialkowska, so I don't know her "back-story" (what's a "back-story", by the way?), but I will be hearing her perform the Chopin E minor concerto with the Victoria Symphony Orchestra next Monday. Regards,
BruceD - - - - - Estonia 190
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Bruce, I link to that as well as other areas in connection with the Fialkowska-Hatto connection. Do read it before seeing her. http://www.andrys.com/hatto.html#news I look forward to hearing your report ! Sophia, you're very welcome. I've been waiting to hear too. And it didn't take Farhan long once he decided to focus on this after analyzing so many other recordings. - Andrys
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Andrys :
Thank you for the links to Fialkowska; apparently she was great news in Canada at a time when I was still living in the US. Still, it rather astounds me, even though I live on the western rim of civilization, that I do not remember having heard of her before.
I believe, also, that Ms. Fialkowska is scheduled to give a Master Class the day of one of her appearances here. I'll make a point of checking that out and I will attend if I can.
Regards,
BruceD - - - - - Estonia 190
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Hi Andrys, Was the Mephisto recording altered from the original (i.e. speeded up or otherwise modified) do you know? Thanks!
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If my memory still serves I remember she took part in the Rubinstein Competition and got the attention of Artur Rubinstein himself. He helped her in various ways to get her career launched, succesfully in some fashion, I guess.
I heard her live once in Denver playing Tchaikovsky No.1. To me that particular performance was just 'another run', nothing special. Her Chopin Etudes CD is quite well-known though.
She used to belong to a group called something like "Canadian Six" that included 6 Canadian pianists. I remember Angela Cheng, Jon Kimura Parker and the great MAH are members of the Six. I forgot about the others. Just wonder if this group still exists...
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Bruce, the back-story besides her illustrious background is that she survived a tumor in her left arm and a subsequent muscle-transfer procedure. You can read more about how she handled all that, and it's admirable, to say the least.
That masterclass should be very interesting. I hope you do get to go.
Sophia, the waveform analysis will be done soon. The pianophile with the two CDs (Donald Manildi), has said the track timings themselves are said to be the same. I'll report back when I hear about the waveform analysis but you can also check out Farhan's website in the meantime. It surprises me that this may not have been sped up.
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Aldous, Thank you for offering a deeper perspective on this. I can readily imagine the ease with which Barrington-Coupe -- a talented con-man on a mission -- could manipulate the feelings and ultimately the judgment of experienced people. On the other hand, perhaps you pulled the trigger a touch too quickly with the arrogance assertion. A serious observer might have had doubts from the beginning, no matter the persuasiveness of the Hatto story or the natural sympathy her circumstances might create. I'm reminded of J.R.R. Tolkien's description of Saruman's voice. Those within its range could easily fall under its spell. Others who were more detached could see the manipulation. In my case at least, there was no connection to the people or to the recordings. My motivation for asking questions, about Davis's thinking for instance, was simply Kipling's 'satiable curtiosity. I have a great deal of sympathy for what he must have felt following the exposure of the fraud. I'm curious (again ) about how you have managed to see copies of emails between him and Barrington-Coupe. Has he discussed the issue somewhere? [Please don't tell me it's in the bloody article in a paragraph I skipped or only skimmed]. My closest contact with Davis was the fact that I studied with one of his colleagues at the U. of M. many years ago, but I'm certainly not on his cc list. David
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Originally posted by Piano*Dad: Aldous,
I'm curious (again ) about how you have managed to see copies of emails between him and Barrington-Coupe. Has he discussed the issue somewhere? [Please don't tell me it's in the bloody article in a paragraph I skipped or only skimmed]. My closest contact with Davis was the fact that I studied with one of his colleagues at the U. of M. many years ago, but I'm certainly not on his cc list.
David The short answer is that Ivan and I have been friends for many years. It was he, in fact, who alerted me to Hatto's "recordings" and sent me the first examples of her "artistry." (I'll drop the quotes now!). He's never been interviewed on this topic to my knowledge. I was in Miami just weeks after Hatto's death (and some months after being seduced by a sampling of her recordings) and it was then that I was able to read the emails both from Hatto and her husband. One particularly poignant one was dated three days before her death, but sent to Ivan three days after her death by her husband. It contained, supposedly, Hatto's death-bed expression of gratitude for Ivan's support of her belated career. Her husband claimed to have found this email unsent on her computer and forwarded it on to Ivan with a particularly painful note about his loss. In emails months before her death, she regaled Ivan with her memories of his London debut -- down to such details as his "low seating" at the keyboard which she said she always advocated. Other emails went into great depth regarding performance practice and technical issues, and, of course her great admiration for Ivan's Liszt playing and other recordings. She also wrote in great detail of plans for her future recording projects. They were intellgent, a little scattered, full of typos and misspellings, but insightful. Only an "expert" on piano literature and performance could have written them. Other emails detailed her battle with critical opinion throughout her career and the later ones touched on the early rumblings of the "hoax alert" that she and her husband wrote off to the longstanding prejudice against her by the "musical establishment." After her death, as the hoax evidence began to pile up, the emails from Barry, particularly relating to the Ravel release, commented sadly on the pain she endured from cancer and her superhuman effort to record her life work on CD. He also wrote of the need to "edit out" her moans of pain; the longtime prejudice against her for being so "impolite" as to look ill on the concert platform. By this time -- given the intimacy of the emails -- Ivan felt, understandably, that Barry and Joyce were indeed his friends. If you know the Hatto sampler disc, you are aware how judicious the selections are: all of the performances share a lightness, agility and effortless virtuosity. On hearing it for the first time (thanks to Ivan), I never bothered to doubt that it wasn't the same pianist. (Many virtuosi can dazzle us with Brahms, Liszt, Mozart, Schubert, Chopin and Debussy.) It was only when the complete catalogue of composers began to pour out (works of the greatest difficulty) did I grow skeptical. If Ivan had doubts at that time, he never communicated them to me. The irony of the Godowsky, of course, is that Carlo Grante (the pianist whose work dominates the release) was a pupil of Ivan's. This irony was not lost on him. We had a good laugh over it. He did say on one occasion that he had sent a later compilation disc to Nelson Freire, a close friend, who denounced it immediately as fake. "No one," he is reported to have said, "can play this well." Ivan, again, just laughed. I think people who were scammed were taken in quite early in the hoax. And particularly so if you had ever ordered Hatto discs directly from ConcertArtists. Barry had the personal touch. And he knew who mattered in the musical world. Initially, my orders were processed by a gentleman with an imposing title in the firm, but, in almost every order I ever placed, the discs never arrived. (I wasn't cheated out of my money since the company had the policy of only accepting payment from customers when their orders arrived!) In my queries as to what happened to my order, Barry himself would email me with wonderful stories. My favorite being that since Joyce was becoming somewhat famous, the orders filled and mailed were evidently being stolen! Joyce, he said, had autographed dozens for a shipment to New Zealand a week before she died and they never reached their destination! Obvious collector items. So, another tactic to divert suspicion from the hoax (intentional or not) was the fact that ConcertArtists clearly wasn't making windfall profits. In fact, as a company, ConcertArtists was laughably amateurish. It really seemed like a "vanity project" to document Joyce's overlooked career. Additionally, Barry would often say that he would be re-mailing my order and including a couple free new releases that he knew I would appreciate. These never arrived either. In total, I only actually received two discs. I'm out only about $35. You make a valid point in challenging my use of the word "arrogant," as applied to people who denounced the hoax. But I still stand by that since most of the detractors hopped on board well into the hoax after suspicions were raised and were very abusive and dismissive of those who defended the recordings. Even I, at that point, had to agree with them. But at the beginning? When Barry was manipulating publicity around the releases and cozying up to those who could help spread the word? Many knowledgeable people were fooled including some prominent critics. It simply did not make sense at the beginning to assume someone was perpetrating a hoax. What was the motive? One would assume it would be for profit. But Barry, reportedly, has not made much money on the deal. And, of course, we all love a story of triumph over all odds -- including critical disdain, cancer and advancing age -- "wish fulfillment" that Barry played like a fine Steinway. In a world as cynical as ours, we want a story like this. I certainly do. That, I think, explains why Ivan, a very honorable, wonderful man, wanted to be a believer.
Ich grolle nicht.
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Thanks again, Aldous, for offering such a full and rich picture of what for most of us is at best a distant phenomenon. Also, I fully understand your distinction between genuine doubters and johnny-come-lately triumphalists. Showing disdain for the initial 'believers' is not particularly fair; nor is it very generous. This also struck me: The irony of the Godowsky, of course, is that Carlo Grante (the pianist whose work dominates the release) was a pupil of Ivan's. This irony was not lost on him. We had a good laugh over it. I wonder if the irony was also appreciated by Barry. Yours, David P.S. The Davis colleague with whom I studied for all too brief a period while in high school was Rosalina Sackstein. Perhaps you know her.
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Maybe if you tried the other keyboard, PJ...
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Originally posted by Piano*Dad: ... The irony of the Godowsky, of course, is that Carlo Grante (the pianist whose work dominates the release) was a pupil of Ivan's. This irony was not lost on him. We had a good laugh over it.... If you want irony, just consider Joyce Hatto, a cancer victim/survivor who didn't play, stealing from Janina Fiolkowska, a tumor victim/survivor who did! My understanding is that Rubinstein had as a condition of his last year of touring, that each venue he played in would book Fialkowska the following year. And I did hear her in Chicago around 1977 as a result, I think.
There is no end of learning. -Robert Schumann Rules for Young Musicians
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Originally posted by Aldous: And, of course, we all love a story of triumph over all odds -- including critical disdain, cancer and advancing age -- "wish fulfillment" that Barry played like a fine Steinway. In a world as cynical as ours, we want a story like this. I certainly do. That, I think, explains why Ivan, a very honorable, wonderful man, wanted to be a believer. This is the best analysis of the Hatto case I've read. Thank you for a beautiful post.
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Aldous,
Great post, and thank you for giving us a sense of what it was like to have been closer to some of the principals in this situation. I've followed this story for some time and it is utterly fascinating as well as disturbing.
It seems that Barrington-Coupe relied on many aspects of the "con"--which is why it worked so well, I think. The narrative of the triumph over odds, of course, as well as relying on the reticence of people to question someone suffering from a serious illness, particularly cancer . To do so would seem unthinkably callous and churlish and the sense of shame if one were wrong would be severe. So, questions are not raised that otherwise would be. I understand there is some question now as to when she actually was diagnosed with cancer and that it might not have been until much later than originally thought (i.e. perhaps not until the 90's).
I think another factor he counted on was that of expectancy. When we expect to see something, the odds are increased that we will "see" it and if we don't expect to see something, odds are that we will miss it even if there. The expectancies around "elderly British lady pianist with cancer" don't mesh with "con artist" very easily in our minds. So the mind tries to disregard facts that don't fit and latches on to explanations (however improbable) that do, especially if provided by a master manipulator.
There is also the lure of being part of the enlightened cognoscenti- the few insiders who were finding a hidden gem of a pianist instead of buying yet another CD by Horowitz or Hamelin. As you noted, B-C apparently was a master at being flattering and ingratiating.
As for their motivation, as you said, unlikely it was money given the rather inept business model they had. More likely, as has been suggested, is some combination of last-laugh revenge on the establishment that spurned her, the sense of long-denied adulation and attention finally arriving, and the momentum that comes with an escalating series of deceptions that take on a life of their own. How long can it be sustained? Can the envelope be pushed just a little further? It must be a bit addictive.
I appreciate very much your sharing your insights on this incredible case and hope you don't mind my adding a few thoughts to your analysis.
Sophia
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Originally posted by sophial: Aldous,
I appreciate very much your sharing your insights on this incredible case and hope you don't mind my adding a few thoughts to your analysis.
Sophia I don't mind at all. In fact, Sophia, David and Monica, I appreciate your feedback. As a minor participant in this hoax, it's been cathartic to be able to state my case. For months, I felt duped and ashamed at the betrayal. It was a strange time, caught in the spell of Joyce Hatto. Thank you, all of you, for understanding the complexity of the situation. Oddly enough, I'm still haunted by this pathetic woman's history. It's such a powerful story. Someone out there, eventually, will turn it into "art." Joyce will get the "immortality" she and her husband craved. One way or another. Life is nothing if not irony, yes?
Ich grolle nicht.
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