For those who can't get enough Joyce Hatto, Andrys Basten has gathered a master page of links related to the great classical scandal of our time, or, at least, of the month. Twenty-three recordings by Hatto have now been identified, tentatively or definitively, as copies of releases on other labels. Wikipedia has the running tally. Although the Concert Artist website has gone blank, William Barrington-Coupe, Hatto's husband and the operator of the label, has denied to the Daily Telegraph that anyone but Hatto is heard playing on these discs. If there's any doubt in your mind, listen to the sound samples on Andrew Rose's page, where "Hatto" is heard on one channel and the actual pianist on the other. The motive behind this unprecedented escapade remains to be determined. Mr. Barrington-Coupe is the main focus of the investigation, but Hatto's letters to the critic Christopher Howell make it clear that the pianist herself was actively engaged in advertising other people's recordings as her own. One hilarious detail emerges from the radio interviews: Barrington-Coupe claimed that his fictitious London orchestra was a "group of Polish refugees, working for non-union rates." Two conspiracy theories can be dispelled: Hatto really did have cancer, as Jessica Duchen has determined, and she really could play the piano, as her 1970 recording of the Bax Symphonic Variations attests.
