Bogus Recording Artists???

[Talos2000]

A friend of mine showed me a recording of a Bruckner symphony by an orchestra and conductor of whom I had never heard. Henry Adolph and the Philharmonica Slavonica.

 

This prompted me to do a Google search for more information. What I found was that neither this conductor, nor his ensemble actually exist! Yet a search on Amazon for "Henry Adolph" returns no less than 202 albums, some of which were released in 2011!

 

According to Amazon, Maestro Adolph has also released CDs conducting other imaginary orchestras, including the North German Philharmonic Orchestra, South German Philharmonic Orchestra, and RSO Ljubljana. He has, however, also recorded with some notable real orchestras, such as the Munich Symphony Orchestra, the Slovak Philharmonic Orchestra, and the London Festival Orchestra. Amazon will happily sell you CDs of these dubious recordings.

 

The imaginary Philharmonica Slavonica has been just as busy, releasing many recordings with other apparently imaginary conductors including Alberto Lizzi, Loic Bertrand, and Alexander Perovsky (who may actually be an imaginary violinist).

 

Other apparently imaginary artists whose works are sold on Amazon include Alfred Gerhardt, Klaus-Peter Hahn, Christian Rainer, and Carl Michalski.

 

If any of those persons actually exist, then I apologize to them, but between Google and Wikipedia, there seems to be little to suggest that they do.

 

Here is what Wikipedia has to say about Alberto Lizzi:

"Alberto Lizzio" is a pseudonymous conductor whose name is used on various recordings produced by Alfred Scholz (see References), including a bizarre Beethoven Ninth and a rather good recording of middle-period Haydn symphonies. Scholz had a veritable stable of non-existent conductors under contract, which he used on his Pilz and Vienna Masters labels."

"Alberto Lizzio" was a pseudonym invented by bargain-record producer Alfred Scholz and attached to older performances (often conducted by Hans Swarowsky, Milan Horvat, Carl Melles or himself). The "South German Philharmonic" - if the attribution is correct - was a short-lived pick-up ensemble assembled by Scholz from members of the Czech Philharmonic in Prague and the Bamberg Symphony around 1968"

 

Incredible, really.

 

[4est]

For what purpose? To sell a few albums through Amazon I wonder?

 

[mgod]

Might be related to this phenomenon:

 

http://www.npr.org/2012/01/29/146053943/on-amazon-an-uneasy-mix-of-plagiarism-and-erotica

 

[Mark Powell]

But half the pop singers in the world have bogus names,

 

So what's the difference?

 

BTW: One that particularly amuses me. 'Sir' Cliff Richard. He got a knighthood from the queen. But he doesn't exist.

 

[thequietman]

In the uk Cliff Richard is a household name,

 

www.cliffrichard.org

 

 

[Audio_ELF]

Only his name is really Harry Webb.

 

Though in English law you can call yourself what you like. A change of name (via feed poll) is just formalising that name.

 

Eloise

 

[Talos2000]

... is a lot like Céline Dion. We try our best to erase him from our consciousness.

 

 

 

[DrGoldin]

That can't be the reason, because I own an old CD, copyright 1993, that says "1989 recording" and includes two performances attributed to "Alberto Lizzo" (yes, they misspelled the pseudonym) and the London Symphony Orchestra: Beethoven's Egmont and Coriolan overtures. Since Amazon wasn't founded until 1994, Scholz's bogus names are older than Amazon. (Two other conductors are credited for other pieces on the disc: Anton Nanut, who is a real person, and Emil Edlinger, who, as far as I can tell, is not.)

 

I've been trying to figure out who is behind the infamous "Lizzo" performance of the Egmont, because it's actually pretty good. If it's really Scholz, and he had taken credit for himself, people might remember him today for more than just being a fraud.

 

For what purpose? To sell a few albums through Amazon I wonder?

[Paul R]

For what purpose? To sell a few albums through Amazon I wonder?

 

It's probably not the same, but I seem to remember something about a scheme for conductors and players behind the iron curtain to make money with bogus names and such.

 

Paul

[firedog]

Until sometime in the 70's pop/rock artists who wanted to appear as session musicians on another label often couldn't use their real names due to contractural restrictions. So either they weren't listed, or you see lots of ridiculous pseudonyms, many of which let you know exactly who the person actually is.

 

Maybe something similar is going on here.

[Al Jones]

Bob Dylan has a few tracks on the Broadside Ballads, Vol. 1 anthology LP credited to Blind Boy Grunt!