David Harbin wrote:

>I find it amazing that Gramophone 'experts' did not spot the fake orchestra
>and conductor, neither of which, to my mind, made any recordings in the
>past.  Also the fact that major talents were ripped off and not spotted
>(eg Haitink ...)
>
>The real question this raises for me is the validity or reviews in the
>light of the Hatto scandal.  What does all this say about the standard
>of reviews and knowledge?  There has not been enough discussion of this
>in Gramophone.  Classicstoday.com did at least compare their Hatto reviews
>with some of their original reviews for the original 'real' recordings,
>to their credit.

I disagree.  Do you know how many recordings of standard rep there are?
Nobody has the kind of detailed knowledge to reliably pronounce.  Indeed,
I remember Neville Marriner on a British program (My Music?) being
subjected to a "blind" test of listening to a Handel recording.  He was
rather hard on it.  Of course, it turned out to be his own recording.

I think it enough for a critic to say what he likes or dislikes and why.

Steve Schwartz

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