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Joyce Hatto was described as one of the best classical pianists in the world shortly before she died last year. She put out over a hundred recordings, but had stopped performing live decades ago. So maybe it shouldn't be that big a surprise that some listeners questioned whether she was actually recording the songs herself.

And then something funny happened. A music critic for Gramophone Magazine went and popped one of her CDs in his computer for a listen recently. And wouldn't you know it, his music player found what appeared to be the correct information for the CD: only instead of Joyce Hatto, it listed Lászlo Simon as the performer.

You see, many music management programs, including iTunes figure out what CD you're listening to by examining the length, order, and number of tracks on a disc and then comparing that data with an online database. Sure, it's theoretically possible that the music critic found a rare instance where two artists recorded two CDs where tracks had exactly the same lengths. But the thing is, several of Hatto's CDs seem to have been copied. Audio company Pristine Audio is conducting an analysis of the original recordings versus the "fake" recordings, and you can listen to the results.

Of course, Hatto's husband, who runs the record label that distributes her work claims that he has no idea why there are similarities between Hatto's CDs and those by other artists. He insists that he will hire his own sound engineer to conduct a full examination of the recordings.


[via New Scientist]