Budget recordings of Alfred Scholz: Difference between revisions

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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 [http://musicbrainz.org/artist/ffec7e9e-60da-4f01-84c6-c2097d708476 M. Bergerich]. In the case of an ensemble, it could be a "scratch" ensemble brought togther just for the recording, and which does not otherwise have a name.
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 [[artist:ffec7e9e-60da-4f01-84c6-c2097d708476|M. Bergerich]]. In the case of an ensemble, it could be a "scratch" ensemble brought togther just for the recording, and which does not otherwise 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.
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.
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 many examples in MBz of the same performance being credited in two or more distinct ways.


The recordings are usually found on labels including [http://musicbrainz.org/label/f02ed121-c35d-411e-ba60-55fd1c3395e9 Point] and [http://musicbrainz.org/label/1c0ee8d0-04a3-4060-86c0-99bb0eb7b481 PILZ] (as Vienna Masters).
The recordings are usually found on labels including [[label:f02ed121-c35d-411e-ba60-55fd1c3395e9|Point]] and [[label:1c0ee8d0-04a3-4060-86c0-99bb0eb7b481|PILZ]] (as Vienna Masters).


There are many surveys of Scholz recordings, but they are piecemeal. For example:
For example, [https://groups.google.com/d/topic/rec.music.classical.recordings/C1060RRqeiA/discussion Fake conductors and the Symphonie Fantastique] describes how someone collected 170 differently credited recordings of the work, but on studying them found he only had 162 distinct performances.
* ''Pseudonyms: Alfred Scholz and the South German Philharmonic''<ref>[http://www.abruckner.com/Data/articles/articlesenglish/berkyjohnpseudonym/pseudonyms.pdf Pseudonyms: Alfred Scholz and the South German Philharmonic], John F. Berky, March 12, 2003 (revised January, 2009 and July, 2014)</ref> surveys the performances of Bruckner symphonies which Scholz attributed to his former teacher, Hans Swarovsky.
* ''Fake conductors and the Symphonie Fantastique''<ref >[https://groups.google.com/d/topic/rec.music.classical.recordings/C1060RRqeiA/discussion Fake conductors and the Symphonie Fantastique] rec.music.classical.recordings 8/07/2002</ref> describes how someone collected 170 differently credited recordings of the work, but on studying them found he only had 162 distinct performances.
* ''Hunting down the undead ghost of George Richter''<ref>[http://finnaarupnielsen.wordpress.com/2011/05/18/hunting-down-the-undead-ghost-of-classical-co/ Hunting down the undead ghost of classical conductor George Richter] May 18, 2011, updated October 24, 2013</ref>: the search for another fictitious conductor.
* An interview<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20160914154032/http://www.h4.dion.ne.jp/~hugo.z/HJW/HJWanswer.html Hans-Jürgen Walther: Answer to My Questionnaire] accessed 10 Dec 2017</ref> with [[artist:8fcd4641-308b-4c9c-aa51-8a0dbb09efdd|Hans-Jürgen Walther]] which is quite revealing as to the way recordings were acquired, and the use of pseudonyms.
* An Amazon review<ref>[http://www.amazon.de/review/R2JGGSGG667375/ Eine zweifelhafte Wiederveröffentlichung von Vivaldis Vier Jahreszeiten] 27. Februar 2014</ref> of a recording of Vivaldi's ''Four Seasons'' discusses the many ways in which the original 1965 recording by [[artist:051633e1-4d79-4e18-91ff-626c5bc480b7|Suzanne Lautenbacher]], [[artist:556a5295-5b20-4da7-a9d1-49833162cb73|Württembergisches Kammerorchester]] and [[artist:f2dcc71c-96b2-4c89-ac42-1116c49df174|Jörg Faerber]] is packaged.


These budget recordings are not necessarily less "good" performances. Many are old performances which were sold for a one-off payment, rather than for royalties, and have been reissued in various guises ever since. They may be musically excellent, but in general the audio quality is poor.
The following lists are of artists known to be used by Scholz:


== Relevant Musicbrainz entities ==
===Real artists, names used (possibly) fraudulently===
[[Budget recordings of Alfred Scholz/Lists]] has lists of MBz artists known to be used by Scholz.
A few of these may in fact be the actual artists behind the music. In many cases the names are simply appropriated.
* [[artist:4b7f3156-d5b0-4147-9542-23437d9a9009|Hans Swarovsky]]. Scholz's conducting professor, a real person with some genuine performances of his own on record, his name was also used by Scholz on recordings which he did not conduct.<ref name="berky" />
* [[artist:237e8724-da45-42a5-b7f2-1b0a785b7527|Hans Zanotelli]]. Another real person whose name was used.
* [[artist:ffe0e245-bba3-430a-81cb-a8917ff6bfa7|Hanspeter Gmür]]
* [[artist:30ff00b0-4a1c-4382-8101-79831d647252|Bystrík Režucha]]. Conductor of the [[artist:86d8d8d7-cf1e-4561-97f1-8e175b530184|Slovenská filharmónia]]
* [[artist:15938c65-605a-4e63-ac8d-3ca3b19408b2|Martin Sieghart]]
* [[artist:6c6cc5e5-ea22-49f8-a457-df82cba56cc7|Zdeněk Košler]]. Conductor of the [[artist:afad991b-c46d-465f-8d65-f02606f08fe8|Česká filharmonie]].
* [[artist:b9141829-a9ca-456c-b1e1-caef6f4030e6|Milan Horvat]]. Conductor of the [[artist:26f87ee2-8d3c-4cd0-8c95-ccae3c980aa1|Radio-Symphonieorchester Wien]]
* [[artist:083e19f0-783a-4595-977a-ff942de8f5e4|János Sándor]]


== How to identify a Scholz release ==
* [[artist:703d17c5-6c70-458d-b2ee-9b331e34d504|Nürnberger Symphoniker]]
Clues that you are dealing with a Scholz release:
* [[artist:f80eab85-8ca0-4526-9669-241aeb479017|London Festival Orchestra]]. Decca studio orchestra from the 1950s, often credited alongside Henry Adolph and Alberto Lizzio (see below). As their history prior to the Ross Pople era (1980s) is a little fuzzy, and given the quantity of fictitious artist names that follow the pattern “(something) Festival Orchestra” this may be at least semi-legitimate.
* the label is one of the known Scholz budget labels
* [[artist:6cd8706c-2bf1-4406-8377-187136acb110|Münchener Kammerorchester]]
* usually no booklet, just a single page
* [[artist:daa4b4a7-0bcc-4f3b-a243-41cd97dd8477|Münchner Philharmoniker]]
* the artists appear in [[Budget recordings of Alfred Scholz/Lists]], or no artists are given
* [[artist:5610302e-bfd9-421c-80e2-03d790a0f5e5|Philharmonia Orchestra]]
* no biographical information or photos of the artists
* [[artist:299597ae-3a20-4bf1-973e-03704af69f6b|Royal Philharmonic Orchestra]]
* no recording dates or places are given on the cover
* [[artist:f83945a5-1612-4eb3-b529-5236c6e6755e|Camerata Salzburg]]
* there is no data about the performers on the internet, but:
* [[artist:86d8d8d7-cf1e-4561-97f1-8e175b530184|Slovenská filharmónia]]. Not to be confused with the fictitious Philharmonia Slovenska.
** this may also be true for older artists who are genuine, esp. from behind the Iron Curtain
* [[artist:65c56f38-ee1e-4668-b284-64cc8ba2ad53|Stuttgarter Kammerorchester]]
** they may have fictional biographies, such as Alberto Lizzio <ref>[http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Alberto_Lizzio&oldid=416905712 Fictional Wikipedia article for Alberto Lizzio] (before cleanup) 3 March 2011</ref>
* [[artist:26f87ee2-8d3c-4cd0-8c95-ccae3c980aa1|Radio-Symphonieorchester Wien]]
* [[artist:7ab3d1f1-9a8e-49b4-a4f8-5e965b93e7ae|Orchestre radio-symphonique de Paris]]
* [[artist:abd424c5-a1dc-44c5-8db2-72a5a39a25ca|Budapest Philharmonic Orchestra]]
* [[artist:e252741d-8533-4c5d-a6f5-3a3fa3887301|Symfonický orchester Slovenského rozhlasu]]
* [[artist:6df918ea-d407-432c-b91f-6a7fa46b79f4|Eberhard Kraus]] (organist)
* [[artist:4d6d103b-9d5a-487a-92cd-c43c02cea765|Kurt Redel]] (conductor)
* [[artist:a027c92f-0fe9-4a6d-af45-6f5fd18ed544|Mozarteumorchester Salzburg]]
* [[artist:d4bd3e3e-c662-4d01-b068-4826809cc8cb|Dubravka Tomšič]] (pianist)
* [[artist:657e4026-0649-4b6c-b7de-1955da0db5ea|Anton Nanut]] (conductor)
* [[artist:cf366c1a-cf2a-4755-b676-92700a880730|Simfonični orkester RTV Slovenija]]
* [[artist:49e9e1ca-8a85-4a76-b02f-5566532705f0|Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin]]
* [[artist:1a935ca0-550a-4922-b480-c6dcfe3a2350|Liszt Ferenc Kamarazenekar]]
* [[artist:361e711a-a5c0-4065-a27b-c62e261b0afc|István Székely]] (pianist)
* [[artist:7244394c-bc2a-48a0-bf39-439ef02aee16|Wiener Mozart-Ensemble]]
* [[artist:09bb1c07-40cc-459e-8631-f2db6afbd3c4|Silvia Čápová]] (pianist)
* [[artist:e3573325-ec7c-43c9-8025-80895df6d043|Zagrebački solisti]]
* [[artist:c90187d4-a31f-40c2-95e2-492b2cb421b7|Enrique Bátiz]] (conductor)
* [[artist:02fd93f4-c04b-4568-bbe8-e9cdd6849aad|Norman Shetler]] (conductor)
* [[artist:8aa00798-89e9-4127-8c4d-1595b13f83b6|Wiener Johann Strauss Orchester]]
* [[artist:5fcf3cd2-8dd8-41af-bbb5-842b9425889e|Festivalový orchestr Praha]] - Does not seem to be fictional.<ref>http://www.sms.cz/kapela/prazsky-festivalovy-orchestr</ref>
* [[artist:6ce4a47c-e4e6-4e02-8e8e-239e4a88b4f6|Amsterdam Symphony Orchestra]]


== How to enter Scholz releases ==
===“Fake” artists===
Some of these are possibly real. More research is needed.
==== Conductors ====
* [http://musicbrainz.org/artist/85989e5d-727d-4f04-81f1-4b3e949f034d Henry Adolph].
* [http://musicbrainz.org/artist/90c8d34d-92bd-4404-af08-b1ad57438221 Cesare Cantieri].
* [http://musicbrainz.org/artist/4c7636e2-f5a5-4840-a9be-3c7ac089bbd9 Eugen Duvier]. Probably - needs further investigation.
* [[artist:61c3b824-fa39-4217-8234-181182baecbc|Alberto Lizzio]]. Wikipedia states <ref>[[wikipedia:Alberto Lizzio|Wikipedia article for Alberto Lizzio]] and [http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Alberto_Lizzio&oldid=544604664 before cleanup]</ref> that Scholz wrote a fictitious biography stating that this was his father.
* [http://musicbrainz.org/artist/3730084c-ccd2-46c4-9011-c13b5b7fe3df Carlo Pantelli]. Again, no online photos or bios, recordings mostly with fictitious orchestra Philharmonia Slavonica
* [http://musicbrainz.org/artist/4916e022-03dc-480a-b4f8-a62d94aa43cf Serge Tchaikov].
* [http://musicbrainz.org/artist/442bf4be-f6eb-4154-bb09-00ebb85c7977 Denis Zsoltay].
* [[artist:34e5b176-a410-4ca7-ab8d-b2f7b52eee07|Hymisher Greenburg]]
* [[artist:c7d20dc7-04b3-452f-a980-f93556bd1720|Simon Addison]]
* [[artist:552811f7-6848-4eae-8fea-4c4a04279856|Francesco Macci]]
* [[artist:68971fcf-8292-4546-8509-8245cbeec7c4|Alexander von Pitamic]]
* [[artist:a4e6be80-bf26-46a3-9607-6852364f52f5|Takao Matsumo]]
* [[artist:3acdd3cd-1ec6-49f2-b331-1d03db60f732|Frank Shipway]]
* [[artist:70d8e6fc-5c31-4a90-ab23-591753b8dc6d|Carl Michalski]]
* [[artist:f661104a-719a-455d-96ee-75e8ea5847fe|Julian Armstrong]]
* [[artist:aedf876a-695c-4c7b-b6c0-4c8475efb25b|Loic Bertrand]]
* [[artist:87cfe799-9bfa-4336-8e48-71e909a9f63c|Pavel Urbanek]]
* [[artist:cd7200a9-3117-4560-b1b0-d4b8bfb9da91|Georg Hlinka]]
* [[artist:398a3ca8-0a7d-4eec-9ab3-0f3d0ae6aba6|Jan Zybnovsky]]
* [[artist:838be590-4514-4415-a358-783956f48e3f|Sven Bengtson]]
* [[artist:84dd26e1-0fe7-47dc-9b64-7c66236735d8|Peter Wohlert]]
* [[artist:26cbf096-68a1-4f5e-9e73-274cdc05730f|Herbert Kraus]]
* [[artist:ef67608a-0106-4937-8160-ff9576b8ffd2|Heribert Münchner]]
* [[artist:2e39cd78-21d1-41f6-bec7-3dcfea223fe2|Pierre Carbidier]]
* [[artist:6ef9adf9-3464-4a20-83e9-6a6e663b012e|Luigi Varese]]
* [[artist:5df99807-2786-42f4-98b3-0735d73495b7|Paul Kantschieder]]
* [[artist:44691e52-70a3-40f0-a095-917258a8e9d4|Joseph Francek]]
* [[artist:82505764-91c1-432c-8129-d5005c45439b|Peter Stern]]
* [[artist:6c99c9e0-4c1c-42c7-866d-23de1e934ec7|Herbert Fleischmann]]


==== Ensembles ====
=== Artists ===
Scholz pseudonyms have Musicbrainz Artist entities to represent them just as "real" artists do. Don't merge away these artists. Only if two Scholz artists have very similar names, that can be considered spelling variations, and perform the same role is it worth merging them.
* [[artist:a9ff697e-eda9-4539-b97e-ce87e5ace80b|Süddeutsche Philharmonie (South German Philharmonic)]]. 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".<ref name="berky">[http://www.abruckner.com/Data/articles/articlesenglish/berkyjohnpseudonym/pseudonyms.pdf Pseudonyms: Alfred Scholz and the South German Philharmonic], John F. Berky, March 12, 2003 (revised January, 2009)</ref>
* [[artist:77fe42c6-d3db-403e-828d-dff6de80d4e5|Norddeutsche Philharmonie]]. You can probably see the pattern here.
* [[artist:9a99bc67-1c17-4197-9a57-80ae70681939|Philharmonia Slavonica]]. According to one unsourced WP article<ref>[[wikipedia:Capriccio_Espagnol#Use_in_film|Wikipedia article on the Capriccio Espagnole]]</ref>, “the performances attributed to them are often by the [[artist:26f87ee2-8d3c-4cd0-8c95-ccae3c980aa1|Austrian Radio (ORF) Orchestra]]."
* [[artist:d9b04359-c185-4b36-b4c5-944bb2944b29|Camerata Romana]]<ref>http://cellofun.yuku.com/topic/13814/Camerata-romana</ref>
* [[artist:e9f7ec49-8b45-4daf-9887-b18bbee095e2|The European Philharmonic Orchestra]] <ref>[http://members.tip.net.au/~jgbrown/Tristan/discography/content/orch.htm Tristan and Isolde discography]</ref>
* [[artist:a4121652-9058-43ba-8b72-3e3ad8b45a5a|The English Philharmonic Orchestra]]
* [[artist:854b4a7a-336f-4401-a8a2-112e6f653f22|Musici di San Marco]]
* [[artist:aedc71c6-43fc-43da-a2bc-0f49ef79c84a|Tokyo Festival Orchestra]]
* [[artist:28ab3f3f-8cdb-43ba-bd93-57b46f65beff|Mozart Festival Orchestra]]
* [[artist:414c08fa-0477-4ee2-a9c8-9a6843bc0c4c|Great Festival Orchestra]]
* [[artist:d535e825-3709-43d6-b763-c4e98b2f54e1|London Festival Chorus]]
* [[artist:b9419c28-7561-4d25-84d9-76fb4796515f|Great Festival Chorus]]
* “Pro Arte Orchester” (similarly-named to [[artist:ed05f1ef-562f-49d3-9aac-bfc864acf1a2|Pro Arte Munich]])
* [[artist:bd9564dc-0747-4386-9b6f-4d0174ad4ae7|Südwest-Studioorchester]]
* [[artist:9667bd46-56b4-4f5b-a38e-d66498a2638a|Baroque Festival Orchestra]]
* [[artist:d8711d47-a0e6-4e8a-ace4-cb22a0f29d8c|French National Radio Orchestra]] (compare “Orchestre National de France” / “French National Radio Broadcasting Orchestra”)
* [[artist:fab2b234-95b5-459c-ba33-b9cf09602fd6|Babelsberg Symphony Orchestra]] (compare “[[artist:8cca6de3-a9b1-43ca-8f1e-9af926eb5132|Deutsches Filmorchester Babelsberg/German Film Orchestra Babelsberg]])
* [[artist:fe3c94b1-9a92-41ab-82c7-beb1f825836f|Philharmonic Ensemble Pro Musica]]


If a Scholz artist has the same (or very similar) name as a real artist, they should be distinct Musicbrainz entities with disambiguation comments. Many artists have comment (''an Alfred Scholz pseudonym'') or similar.
==== Soloists ====
* [http://musicbrainz.org/artist/ffec7e9e-60da-4f01-84c6-c2097d708476 M. Bergerich] (piano). Apparently drawing on the name recognition of Martha Argerich
* [http://musicbrainz.org/artist/e71ec8e5-7799-4484-8acf-fe59dfbdcc36 Dieter Goldmann] (piano). I can't find any biographical information about him, and he is a frequent performer on Scholz's recordings.
* [[artist:46bf100c-b095-4a1d-b138-77f1085159fb|Mario-Ratko Delorko]] (piano). Ratko Delorko is a real pianist, but I can’t find any reliable source for him having an omitted “Mario-” in his first name. This artist should probably be split (or the genuine Ratko Delorko should be added)
* [[artist:63f18456-d499-48c6-bedf-7b0bbde52540|Michael Rosengarten]] (piano)
* [[artist:2ff310fc-7fd5-4902-8fef-ef8c8a64ff82|Maria Novak]] (piano)
* [[artist:e57f322d-ccc8-4bbe-b0ea-73d700977bad|René Nuton]] (organ)
* [[artist:f730c784-edd3-4040-b47a-3e37ac5f8d59|Kamil Sreter]] (bassoon, horn)
* [[artist:2c9d0dfa-c620-4c04-b5de-edf47d275403|Sabine Lenz]] (bassoon)
* [[artist:4ca6c970-7371-407c-9e71-a7750dd79a97|Björn Lundgren]] (piano)
* [[artist:e89fef96-40c6-42b4-a7ac-3bf9d462f94c|Daniel Gerard]] (piano)
* [[artist:7b452bf2-961d-4c0c-a775-1281ef70260b|Svetlana Stanceva]] (piano)
* [[artist:4a7da61e-bd9d-4f93-bd38-3b01161c314d|Vilmos Fischer]] (piano)
* [[artist:f5fc4ac0-62d9-439b-a91f-db1e24524134|Angela Giulini]] (piano)
* [[artist:7f5cb32b-e1e8-4785-84a1-a4f71494d0e9|Alexander Permovalsky]] (violin)
* [[artist:47b38c7c-9cf8-455b-ba62-3e7a04f1186b|Peter Jacovic]] (flute)
* [[artist:2073c8d9-b575-4fb6-bbd4-cf3a36f53d21|Kurt Berger]] (flute)


== Question ==
=== Releases ===
Enter the artist credits as they appear on the cover, including any named Scholz artists, following [[Style/Classical/Release/Artist]]. Commonly, Scholz releases have no cover artist other than the composer; if so, use only the composer for the artist credit. Be particularly careful when Scholz has used a name which is the same as or very similar to a real artist. For example the [[artist:2914addc-dc71-41ce-a3b0-68d6a73bb5d0|London Festival Orchestra]] and the [[artist:f80eab85-8ca0-4526-9669-241aeb479017|London Festival Orchestra]].


=== Recordings ===
What is the best way to record these performances in the database? In particular, where a single performance, with identical acoustic fingerprint, is credited to two or more sets of performers, how should they be credited?
* Artist Credit (see [[Style/Classical/Recording/Artist]])
** If the recording has only one known set of Scholz artists, then use those
** If the recording has more than one set of Scholz artists, but it is reasonable to suppose that one set is the original artists, for example the Susanne Lautenbach recording of the Four Seasons, then use those
** If the recording has more than one set of Scholz artists, and none have a good claim to originality, then use special purpose artists
** If no artists are known, use special purpose artists (or just the composer)
* Advanced Relationships
** Include all the artists, with their roles, who are given on any of the releases on which the recording is found. This will mean that a Scholz recording may have multiple ARs for the same role.
** If no artists are known, don't add any artists ARs
** It's almost never the case that Scholz releases give recording dates or places
** Link to works as for any other classical release


== When to merge Scholz recordings ==
See the [[{{TALKPAGENAME}}|Talk]] page.
The question of how to represent recordings which are acoustically identical but have multiple orthogonal sets of credits is outside the scope of the style guidelines. However there seems to be a consensus among "classical" editors that it is better to merge, provided you are sure that the recordings are identical. Remember that acoustids are often assigned incorrectly, so do not merge based on acoustid alone if something else is inconsistent. If a recording has more than one acoustid, use the visual comparison tool to check if they are effectively the same. If not, then one of them is probably wrongly assigned. Compare the track lengths with the durations stored with the acoustid for any discrepancies. If the release has a discID, compare the lengths in that, too.

If the fingerprint is shared with a recording by non-Scholz artists, then it is probably wrongly assigned. '''Do not merge recordings by Scholz artists and non-Scholz artists unless you are certain there is an exception.'''

When considering a merge, always look at a work in its entirety. If only a subset of the movements appear to be possibly the same, do not merge any of them, because there is probably some other error. Whilst it is not unknown for Scholz to muddle up movements from different original recording sessions, this would be a particularly crass and unusual error. Also note that Scholz may have acquired more than one performance of the same work, and that the artist credits alone are not proof that the recordings are actually alike. For example, consider these two performances of Handel's Fireworks Music:
{|border="1"

!colspan="2"|[[Release:2a65aacd-72ef-4375-8ee6-1ad808b71610|Version 1]]!!colspan="2"|[[release:5cbd1ea5-1a16-49e2-93e5-00d25c29d2b7|Version 2]]
|-
|Music for the Royal Fireworks: I. Overture||9:32 ||Music for the Royal Fireworks: I. Overture||9:53
|-
|Music for the Royal Fireworks: II. Bourrée||1:15 ||Music for the Royal Fireworks: II. Bourrée||2:03
|-
|Music for the Royal Fireworks: III. La paix||3:39 ||Music for the Royal Fireworks: III. La paix||3:54
|-
|Music for the Royal Fireworks: IV. Menuett I||0:59 ||Music for the Royal Fireworks: IV. La réjouissance||2:27
|-
|Music for the Royal Fireworks: V. Menuett II||1:18 ||Music for the Royal Fireworks: Va. Menuett I||0:59
|-
|Music for the Royal Fireworks: VI. La réjouissance||2:24 ||Music for the Royal Fireworks: Vb. Menuett II||1:24
|}
Even allowing for the re-ordering of the movements, the track lengths of the earlier movements are too dissimilar to merge, and they have distinct fingerprints.


== References ==
== References ==
Line 135: Line 81:
== See also ==
== See also ==
* [http://web.archive.org/http://www.naxos.com/person/Hans_Swarowsky/45150.htm Naxos bio of Hans Swarovsky]
* [http://web.archive.org/http://www.naxos.com/person/Hans_Swarowsky/45150.htm Naxos bio of Hans Swarovsky]
* [http://groups.google.com/group/rec.music.classical.recordings rec.music.classical.recordings] for some relevant discussions
* ''rec.music.classical.recordings'' for some relevant discussions:
** [http://groups.google.com/d/topic/rec.music.classical.recordings/FB5iTFSo0iU/discussion Henry Adolph, Anton Nanut, Eugen Duvier, Alfred Scholz - Who the hell are they?]
** [http://groups.google.com/d/topic/rec.music.classical.recordings/FB5iTFSo0iU/discussion Henry Adolph, Anton Nanut, Eugen Duvier, Alfred Scholz - Who the hell are they?]
** [http://groups.google.com/d/topic/rec.music.classical.recordings/_2qP-0rXnB0/discussion Anybody Know Anything About Alfred Scholz or Henry Adolph?]
** [http://groups.google.com/d/topic/rec.music.classical.recordings/_2qP-0rXnB0/discussion Anybody Know Anything About Alfred Scholz or Henry Adolph?]
* [http://www.abruckner.com/editorsnote/discographichorror/ Anton Bruckner - Discographic Horrors]
* [http://www.abruckner.com/editorsnote/discographichorror/ Anton Bruckner - Discographic Horrors]

[[Category:Artist]]
[[Category:Classical Music]]
[[Category:Documentation]]
[[Category:Metadata]]

Latest revision as of 03:00, 30 January 2020

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 otherwise 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 many examples in MBz of the same performance being credited in two or more distinct ways.

The recordings are usually found on labels including Point and PILZ (as Vienna Masters).

There are many surveys of Scholz recordings, but they are piecemeal. For example:

  • Pseudonyms: Alfred Scholz and the South German Philharmonic[1] surveys the performances of Bruckner symphonies which Scholz attributed to his former teacher, Hans Swarovsky.
  • Fake conductors and the Symphonie Fantastique[2] describes how someone collected 170 differently credited recordings of the work, but on studying them found he only had 162 distinct performances.
  • Hunting down the undead ghost of George Richter[3]: the search for another fictitious conductor.
  • An interview[4] with Hans-Jürgen Walther which is quite revealing as to the way recordings were acquired, and the use of pseudonyms.
  • An Amazon review[5] of a recording of Vivaldi's Four Seasons discusses the many ways in which the original 1965 recording by Suzanne Lautenbacher, Württembergisches Kammerorchester and Jörg Faerber is packaged.

These budget recordings are not necessarily less "good" performances. Many are old performances which were sold for a one-off payment, rather than for royalties, and have been reissued in various guises ever since. They may be musically excellent, but in general the audio quality is poor.

Relevant Musicbrainz entities

Budget recordings of Alfred Scholz/Lists has lists of MBz artists known to be used by Scholz.

How to identify a Scholz release

Clues that you are dealing with a Scholz release:

  • the label is one of the known Scholz budget labels
  • usually no booklet, just a single page
  • the artists appear in Budget recordings of Alfred Scholz/Lists, or no artists are given
  • no biographical information or photos of the artists
  • no recording dates or places are given on the cover
  • there is no data about the performers on the internet, but:
    • this may also be true for older artists who are genuine, esp. from behind the Iron Curtain
    • they may have fictional biographies, such as Alberto Lizzio [6]

How to enter Scholz releases

Artists

Scholz pseudonyms have Musicbrainz Artist entities to represent them just as "real" artists do. Don't merge away these artists. Only if two Scholz artists have very similar names, that can be considered spelling variations, and perform the same role is it worth merging them.

If a Scholz artist has the same (or very similar) name as a real artist, they should be distinct Musicbrainz entities with disambiguation comments. Many artists have comment (an Alfred Scholz pseudonym) or similar.

Releases

Enter the artist credits as they appear on the cover, including any named Scholz artists, following Style/Classical/Release/Artist. Commonly, Scholz releases have no cover artist other than the composer; if so, use only the composer for the artist credit. Be particularly careful when Scholz has used a name which is the same as or very similar to a real artist. For example the London Festival Orchestra and the London Festival Orchestra.

Recordings

  • Artist Credit (see Style/Classical/Recording/Artist)
    • If the recording has only one known set of Scholz artists, then use those
    • If the recording has more than one set of Scholz artists, but it is reasonable to suppose that one set is the original artists, for example the Susanne Lautenbach recording of the Four Seasons, then use those
    • If the recording has more than one set of Scholz artists, and none have a good claim to originality, then use special purpose artists
    • If no artists are known, use special purpose artists (or just the composer)
  • Advanced Relationships
    • Include all the artists, with their roles, who are given on any of the releases on which the recording is found. This will mean that a Scholz recording may have multiple ARs for the same role.
    • If no artists are known, don't add any artists ARs
    • It's almost never the case that Scholz releases give recording dates or places
    • Link to works as for any other classical release

When to merge Scholz recordings

The question of how to represent recordings which are acoustically identical but have multiple orthogonal sets of credits is outside the scope of the style guidelines. However there seems to be a consensus among "classical" editors that it is better to merge, provided you are sure that the recordings are identical. Remember that acoustids are often assigned incorrectly, so do not merge based on acoustid alone if something else is inconsistent. If a recording has more than one acoustid, use the visual comparison tool to check if they are effectively the same. If not, then one of them is probably wrongly assigned. Compare the track lengths with the durations stored with the acoustid for any discrepancies. If the release has a discID, compare the lengths in that, too.

If the fingerprint is shared with a recording by non-Scholz artists, then it is probably wrongly assigned. Do not merge recordings by Scholz artists and non-Scholz artists unless you are certain there is an exception.

When considering a merge, always look at a work in its entirety. If only a subset of the movements appear to be possibly the same, do not merge any of them, because there is probably some other error. Whilst it is not unknown for Scholz to muddle up movements from different original recording sessions, this would be a particularly crass and unusual error. Also note that Scholz may have acquired more than one performance of the same work, and that the artist credits alone are not proof that the recordings are actually alike. For example, consider these two performances of Handel's Fireworks Music:

Version 1 Version 2
Music for the Royal Fireworks: I. Overture 9:32 Music for the Royal Fireworks: I. Overture 9:53
Music for the Royal Fireworks: II. Bourrée 1:15 Music for the Royal Fireworks: II. Bourrée 2:03
Music for the Royal Fireworks: III. La paix 3:39 Music for the Royal Fireworks: III. La paix 3:54
Music for the Royal Fireworks: IV. Menuett I 0:59 Music for the Royal Fireworks: IV. La réjouissance 2:27
Music for the Royal Fireworks: V. Menuett II 1:18 Music for the Royal Fireworks: Va. Menuett I 0:59
Music for the Royal Fireworks: VI. La réjouissance 2:24 Music for the Royal Fireworks: Vb. Menuett II 1:24

Even allowing for the re-ordering of the movements, the track lengths of the earlier movements are too dissimilar to merge, and they have distinct fingerprints.

References

See also