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Pick of the Indies
NOW I am not one usually to suggest sitting indoors on a Friday night and watching the telly instead of heading to your local picture house, but here is a tip: 7.30pm, Channel 4, tomorrow (Friday) Kentish Town film director Susannah Price’s superb documentary The Great Piano Scam is broadcast.
Award-winning doc maker Susannah brings us the story of skullduggery in the normally sedate world of classical music, and the tale goes like this: between 2002 and 2007, pensioner Joyce Hatto gave the world solo recordings of some of the best-known – and toughest – classical music pieces.
What made her tale all the more remarkable was she was suffering from cancer while she recorded these pieces in a shed at the bottom of her garden, or in the only slightly loftier surrounds of her local church.
What a story, everyone thought, as she tinkled Liszt, Beethoven, Mozart and Rachmaninoff on the ivories. A new virtuoso, discovered at the age of 77! But sadly, as Susannah’s excellent doc uncovers, it was too good to be true. As her CDs flew off the shelves and she was billed as the best concert pianist this island has ever seen, there was something fishy going on. True, she had played professionally in her youth, but alarm bells began to ring that such a talent should have been left undiscovered for so long.
It turned out that her devoted husband had simply copied recordings by other world-famous pianists and attributed them to his undoubtedly talented wife. Watch the film – it’s brilliant.
* My friends up at the Tricycle cinema in Kilburn have generously offered me a goodie bag of treats to promote the release of the Audrey Tautou film Coco Before Chanel (see review on this page). The first person to call me today (Thursday) before midday on 020 7419 9000 – can win a pair of tickets to see the film on Saturday evening at the Tricycle. And they are even throwing in some goodies to go with it, including a book and soundtrack to accompany the film, and a rather fetching poster too. Get on the blower! Enjoy! |
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