British Music News
Couple of items catching my eye today on BBC.
1. DEEP PURPLE URGES FANS TO NOT BUY DEEP PURPLE RECORD
This is your classic man bites dog story, only the dog rocks dude. The album NEC 1993, was recorded when there was great internal tension between singer Ian Gillian and guitarist Ritchie Blackmore. That’s right, a man in his fifties named “Ritchie.”
“It was one of the lowest points of my life - all of our lives, actually,” said Gillan. In fact, it lasted five or six shows after that Birmingham show. Then Ritchie left the band. And we’ve had 13 years of stability ever since then.”
The album is a re-release and label EMI is said to be puzzled why this is an issue now. Still, they’re taking the record out of print. It’s all just smoke over the water now.
2. CLASSICAL CD “FAKED” BY PRODUCER
Speaking of withdrawn albums,
“I’ve closed the operation down, I’ve had the stock completely destroyed, and I’m not producing any more. Now I just want a little bit of peace.”
That’s William Barrington-Coupe, the producer of several classical piano albums by his late wife, Joyce Hatto. The records had gotten rave reviews with the London Times saying Hatto was “a singular artist of superlative technique and interpretation”.
Singular was apparently the exact wrong word, because it was subsequently discovered that many of the tracks were not actually Hatto. Barrington-Coupe, Hatto’s husband, had listened to the original Hatto tapes and heard her groans of pain, the unfortunate result of the cancer which would soon take her life. He attempted to patch over the marred parts with snippets of the same pieces by other artists, but it evolved into albums composed entirely of stolen tracks with Hatto’s name tacked on to them.
The subterfuge was discovered when an iTunes user was ripping a CD - the real artist’s name came up from the database.
And another piece Hatto recorded, composed by Leopold Godowsky, was found to be the same as a performance by Carlo Grante, but digitally altered and slowed down by 15%.
“We wouldn’t have known even to look had it not been for the accident where iTunes came up with the ‘correct’ title for the discs,” Gramophone editor James Inverne told the BBC News website.
“All the recordings are in doubt unless proved otherwise now. We’re talking about over 100 works she recorded and the only person who really will know - if even he has kept records - is William Barrington-Coupe, and he declines to give lists.”
It’s a sad story, because apparently Barrington-Coupe was only trying to call attention to an unsung musical talent, and now she is associated with a forgery scandal. Still, there was quite a bit of incidental noise on David Helfgott’s recordings and it doesn’t seem to have hurt HIS reputation. Or has it?
March 6th, 2007 at 8:28 pm
[...] British Music News [...]
March 24th, 2007 at 8:41 pm
[...] British Music News <p>Couple of items catching my eye today on BBC.</p> <p><a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/6400545.stm">1. DEEP PURPLE URGES FANS TO NOT BUY DEEP PURPLE RECORD</a></p> <p>This is your classic man bites dog story, only the dog rocks dude. The album NEC 1993, was recorded when there was great internal tension between singer Ian Gillian and guitarist Ritchie Blackmore. Thats right, a man in his fifties named Ritchie.</p> <p>It was one of the lowest points of my life - all of our lives, actually, said Gillan. In fact, it lasted five or six shows after that Birmingham show. Then Ritchie left the band. And weve had 13 years of stability ever since then.</p> <p>The album is a re-release and label EMI is said to be puzzled why this is an issue now. Still, theyre taking the record out of print. Its all just smoke over the water now.</p> <p><a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/6400307.stm">2. CLASSICAL CD FAKED BY PRODUCER</a></p> <p>Speaking of withdrawn albums,</p> <p>Ive closed the operation down, Ive had the stock completely destroyed, and Im not producing any more. Now I just want a little bit of peace.</p> <p><img align="right" title="Notes to our readers" alt="Notes to our readers" src="http://www.comune.conegliano.tv.it/nessundorma/musical_note.gif" />Thats William Barrington-Coupe, the producer of several classical piano albums by his late wife, Joyce Hatto. The records had gotten rave reviews with the London Times saying Hatto was a singular artist of superlative technique and interpretation.</p> <p>Singular was apparently the exact wrong word, because it was subsequently discovered that many of the tracks were not actually Hatto. Barrington-Coupe, Hattos husband, had listened to the original Hatto tapes and heard her groans of pain, the unfortunate result of the cancer which would soon take her life. He attempted to patch over the marred parts with snippets of the same pieces by other artists, but it evolved into albums composed entirely of stolen tracks with Hattos name tacked on to them.</p> <p>The subterfuge was discovered when an iTunes user was ripping a CD - the real artists name came up from the database.</p> <p>And another piece Hatto recorded, composed by Leopold Godowsky, was found to be the same as a performance by Carlo Grante, but digitally altered and slowed down by 15%.</p> <p>We wouldnt have known even to look had it not been for the accident where iTunes came up with the correct title for the discs, Gramophone editor James Inverne told the BBC News website.</p> <p>All the recordings are in doubt unless proved otherwise now. Were talking about over 100 works she recorded and the only person who really will know - if even he has kept records - is William Barrington-Coupe, and he declines to give lists.</p> <p>Its a sad story, because apparently Barrington-Coupe was only trying to call attention to an unsung musical talent, and now she is associated with a forgery scandal. Still, there was quite a bit of incidental noise on David Helfgotts recordings and it <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Helfgott">doesnt seem to have hurt HIS reputation</a>. <a href="http://www.denisdutton.com/helfgott.htm">Or has it?</a> </p> [...]