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In Reply to: Anyone else not care about Hatto? nt posted by tinear on March 1, 2007 at 10:58:12:
tinear,In an era when art is minimialised- even made to appear suspect as "elite", and villified as anti-authoritarian, it seems even more important to maintain artistic integrity and support clarity of authorship. If the public ceases to care about authorship, it further degrades creativity and individuality of expression. If plagiarism is to be rewarded by complacency, it suggests an increasingly low respect for intellectual property.
There is of course, when something is copied and sold, it's stealing the bread from the artist's children and all that- the ever present economic aspect. Of course BC must have made money- and he wisely kept his costs and overhead low, low, low by stealing- but his apologist stance is that this was a loving tribute to his wife is the most interesting aspect of the scandal for me. The irony is that all his efforts will make the name "Hatto" will for eternity be synonymous with "fake", and "stolen" and on it's own it dimishes his wife legacy as Barrington-Coupecable is sort of saying to his wife, "For your legacy, we want these recordings to be really good, so we need to get a better pianist than you".
I don't however, think there is an important failure on the part of critics, but I certainly would have been suspicious of the miraculous productivity and of such diverse and difficult repetoire with a specialist's touch ovr a wide range.
Thanks to the fine line between cable news and stupid entertainment, there will be the inevitable TV movie. "Theft, Lies, Sex, Death, and Godowsky: the Joyce Hatto Story". The story line that implies Hatto was murdered with gradual poisoning by agents of Anna Nicole Smith, who was earlier thwarted by former lover Barrington Coupe to launch an operatic career by stealing Joan Sutherland recordings, will be controversial and pull in millions of viewers. I see Linda Hamilton as Hatto and Kelsey Grammer as Barrington-Coupe. Pamela Anderson Lee as Anna Nicole Smith. Cameo appearance by Milli Vanilli as Barrington-Coupe's attorney. Production accounting by Arthur Andersen. Millions will be made and Clifford Irving can write the book.
--No, artistic moral chaos must be checked at the door when the few opportunities today allow.
Cheers,Bambi B
Follow Ups:
NT.
The Boston Marathon has had many famous winners whose names many of us know. But: they're all men. From the women's Boston Marathon only one name avails: Rosie Ruiz. She's the one who leaped into the race at midpoint and crossed the finish line first. In other words, a hoax.Here's a paragraph that puts this into Hatto context:
It is unfortunate that one of the most memorable events in running lore--for both runners and non-runners alike--is not a hard-fought victory in a race, or a true act of sportsmanship, but is rather Rosie Ruiz's "victory" in the 1980 Boston Marathon. In these days of on-course video cameras, elite starts, chips, and checkpoints, it is amazing to think that anyone could have perpetrated, even for a short time, such an obvious hoax, but in the relatively unsophisticated world of road racing in the early '80s, although there were those who were suspicious from the start, it actually took a few days before the truth won out.
"I certainly would have been suspicious" means what? With the writing of a single sentence you are suggesting essentially that "mistakes were made" across the entire population of gushing critics that YOU quite possibly would have avoided (if being a professional critic was what you were positioning yourself as being) -- and I can easily agree with you. If I were a professional critic, I would make it my duty to dig into the details of an artist before making judgement the same way I apply "due diligence" to what I ACTUALLY get paid to do day-to-day. In fact, I would do so DOUBLY with an unknown such as Hatto who was suddenly attracting the spotlight. 99% of the critics that chimed in did so by faith (no, this is not a real statistic!:-).So, I'm not sure I get to quite the same conclusion that you do based upon the same information. I've read some of the "defences" that discuss the idea that "no one can know it all, hear it all etc.", but THAT'S not the point: Hatto was a comet, and it's surprising that more attention wasn't cast upon the phenomenon sooner by the folks that paid to do so. Also, and this is not intended as a comment about your post, I can easily see folks that are in the business of "fast and loose facts" come to the defence of critics. One must protect one's own, eh?;-)
SE,When I wrote "I certainly would have been suspicious", I AM suggesting mistakes were made in the critical world. I had a radio programme on Los Angeles FM for six years epecifically devoted to classical keyboard and I was responsible for content and commentary, making me a demi-critic. If any pianist released over 100 CD's in two or three years and everyone was praising them to the heavens- I know I would have questioned the phenomenon- just as you say you would. When Lang Lang became an overnight sensation, I certainly looked behind that hollow shell.
And while the critical community seems proto-idiotic in not realising what was going on, it is also difficult to recognise every pianist by their playing style- could you separate Ashkenazy from Perhia, Schiff from Hewitt, Arrau from Backhaus? One element of this fraud that's interesting is that it may have succeeded because it was unprecedented in scale- so large and blatant, no one thought to question the most fundamental aspect- who was really playing- everyone took B-C at his word and focussed on the details of the playing.
It seems like the bigger the lie, the easier it is to propogate. So, I understand this kind of critical slip happening- for awhile. But, not for as long as occurred. I agree with you, ",..it's surprising that more attention wasn't cast upon the phenomenon sooner".
I'm not sure I understand who you mean who are "in the business of fast and loose facts", unless you mean Fox News, because critics should be- and often are- as careful as any journalist in striving for accuracy. No one questions success like critics. The Hatto incident is a call to renew that striving in the critical world.
Cheers,Bambi B
No one in particular, but everyone in general that presents information with certitude that hasn't done their basic research -- and I believe, to your last point, that it happens a great deal (more now than ever), and that it should point towards "renewed striving" for accuracy, accountability and just plain honesty in the guidance provided by those "paid to guide". There was a time when critics critized based upon research and comparison. Much of that is now gone, and the professional critics -- as often as not -- tend to act as either cheerleaders for a recording industry in dire straits (essentially criticizing NOTHING), or as defenders of a past heritage that, however worthy, allows no newcomers. There must be something in between if there is to be a future for "serious" music. In other words, critics are supposed to have STANDARDS for their judgement and behavior. In terms of this, I believe the Hatto incident points sqarely at structural deficiencies in the profession itself. I am more concerned by this than by the actual acts of that incident by the perpetrators.
a
Good post! So, BC may also be the father of the motherless and probably better-off-for-it young Smith child. He's on the list with some 321 other contenders...Whatever BC's actual intentions were, misguided as they became and seem, the fact that Hatto's recording will forever now be "name that artist" novelties is as sad a tribute to any "artist" I can think of.
BCs punishment is his life.
"I always play jazz records backwards, they sound better that way"
-Thomas Edison
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