Well, as predicted, Joyce Hatto discs are doing a brisk business on eBay, and Concert Artist owner William Barrington-Coupe is rushing to take advantage of the opportunity. He has announced the reissue of Hatto’s complete catalog, with “each disc personally autographed by Joyce herself.” How and when this occurred remains something of a mystery. The thought of the terminally ill woman laboring over hundreds, if not thousands of CD booklets, signing frantically away to preserve her purported legacy for posterity is more than sad. And what are we to make of Barrington-Coupe’s claim that the autographs themselves are all “unique”, being done in a range of colors, inks (everything from felt-tip marker to crayon), and even spellings?
Obviously, Barrington-Coupe is trying to find a way to sustain the value of the “authentic” fake Hatto recordings. After all, now that that cat is out of the bag, anyone can make his or her own Hatto at home and sell it online. Simply take a favorite performance, fuss with the sound and tempos a little bit, copy the thing to CD with some cheesy cover art, add a few garbled personal reminiscences as booklet notes, and there you have it: instant Hatto! Because it’s so easy, I suspect the current gambit will turn out to be an exercise in futility. And let’s not forget that even if the autographs turn out to be authentic, the actual performances are not. However intriguing the concept, I do not recommend that you support Barrington-Coupe in this latest attempt to exploit his late wife’s reputation.
