STORY LINKS:
Hatto Hoax evidence - Part 1: Liszt (Simon, Nojima) |
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Hatto Hoax evidence - Part 2: Godowsky (Grante, Hamelin) |
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Hatto Hoax evidence - Part 3: Rachmaninov (Bronfman) |
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Hatto Hoax evidence - Part 4: Chopin (Indjic) |
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Hatto Hoax evidence - Part 5: Brahms (Ashkenazy) |
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Hatto Hoax evidence - Part 6: Latest claims of matches |
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Hatto Hoax questions - Part 7: A case for Hatto? |
HERE |
Part 8: How it's done: A fake we prepared for this site |
Joyce Hatto - The Ultimate Recording Hoax - Part 7 |
The Case for Hatto? Concert Artists' response raises questions
William Barrington-Coupe
The response from Concert Artists, Joyce Hatto's record company, in the shape of William Barrington-Coupe, her husband, has been one of apparent bewilderment and denial of any wrong-doing. This has been conveyed in e-mails and phone calls, and in particular in an article in the Daily Telegraph headed "My wife's virtuoso recordings are genuine", published 20th February 2007.
Meanwhile Gramophone magazine reported on the same day "[...]He further identified recording venues used for the recordings as mainly colleges and churches where he used mobile recording facilities. He stated his intention to have his own sound engineer prepare his own comparisons."
The Mastering Engineer
The only other person to have claimed any involvement with the Hatto recordings is the mastering engineer of Kite Studios, in Cambridge, Roger Chatterton, whose website has for some time proclaimed his role in "Digital editing and mastering of Joyce Hatto piano masters for CD releases in UK and America".
In a phone conversation I had with him on 20th February he stated his belief in the authenticity of the Hatto recordings, claiming his involvement amounted to editing between movements, assembling master CDs, and "EQing [altering the tonal balance] recordings so they sounded the same".
In an e-mail follow-up to our conversation, he states:
"I have to say that as yet I am not convinced as to the claims, but I certainly do not dismiss your evidence; I think more time is needed, and I am not an "Expert" in Forensic audio, and so really am not in a position to agree or disagree with your findings. As I mentioned to you today, at all times I was acting in good faith, and was no way aware of any attempts to create bogus claims or recordings- I was just the poor sound engineer, and William B-Coupe was the client at my studio. I acted in good faith with all the masters presented to me, and I had no reason or suspicion to doubt their provenance.
I have always had a long time love of all things musical. and I am very shocked should these allegations prove to be forgeries-however , for the moment, as far as I am concerned the jury is still out ! I still find it very hard to believe that either William or Joyce could be involved ."
Some real evidence - which ought to be easily available to Concert Artists
It is perhaps a little surprising that Mr Barrington-Coupe intends to prove his recordings' veracity by having "his own sound engineer prepare his own comparisons".
What I suggest be more convincing would be to produce at least one of the following:
- Original, unedited master recordings
- Photos of the Concert Artists studio, microphones and equipment
- Photos of Joyce Hatto's piano, in situ, with or without her playing it
- Photos of the orchestral recordings and conductor
- Vicar (or church representatives) confirming claimed venue hire for recordings
- Any musicians claiming to have played under René Köhler or with Joyce Hatto in the disputed works
- Receipts and invoices connected with recordings
- Any work permits required for foreign musicians
- Evidence of travel arrangements for a full symphony orchestra from Poland
- Evidence of the existence of any of the other recording engineers named on the CD covers
Meanwhile further scientific evidence has been amassed which we are convinced proves the recordings we've examined are fake - some of it rather hard to explain on a website, but ready for any legal proceedings which may arise from this matter, and independently verified by other experts in the field.
STORY LINKS:
Hatto Hoax evidence - Part 1: Liszt (Simon, Nojima) |
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Hatto Hoax evidence - Part 2: Godowsky (Grante, Hamelin) |
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Hatto Hoax evidence - Part 3: Rachmaninov (Bronfman) |
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Hatto Hoax evidence - Part 4: Chopin (Indjic) |
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Hatto Hoax evidence - Part 5: Brahms (Ashkenazy) |
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Hatto Hoax evidence - Part 6: Latest claims of matches |
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Hatto Hoax questions - Part 7: A case for Hatto? |
HERE |
Part 8: How it's done: A fake we prepared for this site |
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*Sleevenotes included wherever present in original CD booklet. We provide sleevenotes either direct from record companies' digital source material or from our own scans. In the latter case we normally scan English language content and libretti only. Scanned notes pass through OCR software and can be treated as text files - all are offered as Adobe Acrobat PDFs.
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