Gordon Wright, a conductor who championed obscure composers and made music across the chilly climes of Alaska as founder of the Arctic Chamber Orchestra, was found dead on Wednesday on the porch of his cabin in Indian, Alaska. He was 72. [more]
In the autumn of her life, decades after she had last performed in public, the British pianist Joyce Hatto was rediscovered by a small group of musicians and critics who contended that her recordings of Chopin, Rachmaninoff, Liszt and others ranked alongside those of the 20th century’s most exceptional virtuosos…But now Ms. Hatto’s reputation for excellence and originality has been shaken by a charge of plagiarism. Gramophone, the London music monthly, has presented evidence that several of the recordings issued under her name were in fact copied from recordings of the same music by other pianists. [more]
“The Fly” is about to become an opera. [more]
Gordon Wright was a friend of mine. When I moved to Alaska, Gordon put me up in his cabin for a couple of months, and supplied me with firewood and a phone line. Gordon was a lovely, really funny guy. I’ll miss him.
re Joyce Hatto: other links may be of interest, as this subject has been fuel for debate for a long time now on piano forums. Here is the link displaying evidence of malfeasance:
http://www.pristineclassical.com/HattoHoax.html
Here is another link which independently uncovered fraud, but didn’t know what to do with it at the time:
http://www.charm.rhul.ac.uk/content/contact/hatto_article.html
And here are some links to interesting discussions on piano forums:
http://www.pianostreet.com/smf/index.php/topic,19312.0.html
http://www.pianostreet.com/smf/index.php/topic,23524.0.html
http://www.dasdc.net/forum/viewtopic.php?t=8631
The Pristine Classics link is actually being updated as we watch the story unfold. Yesterday there were only three discs analyzed, and today there are 6.
Walter Ramsey