Budget recordings of Alfred Scholz

There is a subset of "classical" releases which are credited to performers who have never been seen or heard in a live performance. Many of these performers are pseudonyms. Why would a release be published under a pseudonym? It could be because the performer has a restrictive contract with a different record label. It could be because the performance has been "borrowed" from its owner. Or perhaps the pseudonym is considered more marketable - for example the well-known pianist M. Bergerich. In the case of an ensemble, it could be a "scratch" ensemble brought togther just for the recording, and which does not have a name.

The most prolific producer of such budget recordings was Alfred Scholz. Scholz sometimes used his own name, sometimes made-up names, and sometimes the names of real people were given credit for performances which were not theirs.

It is not correct to assume any correspondence between the real and fictitious performers - names were mixed and matched liberally. Scholz sold the same recordings to different labels as different artists, and there are examples in MBz of the same performance being credited in two or more distinct ways.

The following lists are of artists known to be used by Scholz:

Conductors

• Alberto Lizzio. A wikipedia biography of Lizzio states that he is Alfred Scholz's father.
• Hans Swarovsky. Scholz's conducting professor, his name was used on recordings which he did not make.
• Cesare Cantieri
• Denis Zsoltay
• Hans Zanotelli. Another real person whose name was used.

Ensembles

• Süddeutsche Philharmonie (South German Philharmonic). According to Berky this "was a short-lived pick-up ensemble assembled by Scholz from members of the Czech Philharmonic in Prague and the Bamberg Symphony around 1968".
• Norddeutsche Philharmonie

Soloists

• M. Bergerich (piano)

References

• John Berky's article about Alfred Scholz
• Wikipedia entry about Alberto Lizzio