I realised Hattogate was getting out of hand when I found I had a blister on my wrist from contact with mouse-mat edge. The conspiracy theories and Chinese whispers seem to be getting crazier and crazier and I have received a comment or two here that I've not posted because they're way off the deep end - more like something out of sci fi, somewhere between George Orwell and Dr Who, than this rather heart-rending, sorry tale.
What put it all in perspective was this: last night some musician friends came round and played us a violin concerto in the front room. Moments like this, you feel so fortunate that you wonder what you've done to deserve it. I mean, honestly: a friend you'd normally have a good laugh with over a cuppa picks up a piece of wood with four strings and a bow, and suddenly it's as if the Alps have taken over your lounge. It was absolutely incredible: breathtaking, uplifting, the works.
My problem with the Hatto business is that it's all about recording. Not live performance. Music is about communication, isn't it? It's a direct path from soul to soul - composer-musician-audience - and essentially this can only take place during real-time, one-off performance. I have a fine library of CDs that I enjoy hearing, but none that can move or stir me to that extent - with the possible exception of musicians like Cortot, Thibaud and Enescu who recorded live, wrong notes and all, a very long time ago. Of course recordings crucially fill the gap for anyone who doesn't have access to a concert hall or a piano, but given a choice, I would pick live performance every time.
Live music, especially at such close quarters, is one of the seven wonders of the world. I'm now trying to think what the other six could be.
7 comments:
And so the lebrechtian death of the record industry has a silver lining.... the main focus of music in the future *has* to be live performance, and broadcast/recorded live performance! :)
Yes!!! Whatever the BBC thinks.
Simon, I will add you to the blogroll - apologies for not having done so before.
I have been following the Hattogate thing in a few blogs, and couldn't agree more with your sentiments in this post. In an odd convergence, I followed a link Alex Ross posted to the Pristine Classical web site and found something much better than the goods on Hatto (though it was interesting to see). On the top of the page one can download ("free for a limited time") a beautifully restored recording of Cortot and Thibaud playing the Kreutzer Sonata. It's not live, but it's still pretty fantastic, and I thought you and/or your readers might be want to pick it up while its free.
The Pristine Classical Hatto page is here:
http://www.pristineclassical.com/HattoHoax.html
Please post the moonbat comments! I for one am very curious to see how far out it's gotten.
Robert, THANK YOU, I've downloaded & listened....glorious, glorious stuff. John, congratulations on your Big Award - bravissimoso!
One of the strangest messages I had didn't come via the blog, so I can't post it as such, but it was this: I had a message suggesting that a particular pianist whom I know well had sent students to JH for 'top-up' lessons and asking if I knew anything about it. I wrote to the pianist in question, who responded saying that he'd never heard of Joyce Hatto and was so busy that he hadn't heard about any scandal. I trust him.
I'll post the other comment, which questions the authenticity of the medical expert I talked to, someone with whom I have strong family connections. And it's full of doubts about JH's treatment without even knowing what that treatment WAS, since I didn't give the details due to exactly the confidentiality that he thinks isn't being kept .....well, one can't please all the people all the time. It's essential to keep a sense of proportion over who has been trying to kid whom over what. In the end, I personally have come to believe this could be a very sad case of someone possibly going slightly off the rails due to grief, and the expose on the music business is a by-product.
I've written an article for The Independent which ought to be out on Monday (I hope it will be). There won't be much you don't know already, but I did talk to some interesting people.
1. Live music in the home.
2. The return of a travelling musician which then results in the return of No 1.
3. Two children fast asleep after a long day playing.
4. A Blackbird singing.
5. The enthusiastic welcome of three furry friends when you have only been to the corner shop.
6. A very cold, frosty but sunny morning.
7. Well, I'm not going to divulge all my secrets...
Jessica, your post on your glorious evening brought to mind this passage from a book I accidentally came across called "A Little Night Music," written in 1937 by a journalist named Gerald Johnson who took up flute in middle age and joined an amateur ensemble.
"You may converse with a man all an evening and still part total strangers. But you cannot play music with him, or drink with him for an evening, without learning a great deal about the way he is made. And when it comes to acting as a solvent of inhibitions and a loosener of reflexes, one drink, combined with a lot of hand-made music, is far more effective than ten drinks while you listen to a talking-machine or a radio. . . . [T]he good music the machines provide is only so much tea -- it cheers but doesn't inebriate."
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