The other day in another thread, PJF draw our attention once again to the site of Claudio Colombo where so many recordings are hosted for free.

Am I alone in finding this site rather suspect ? First, I can not find ANY information on the artist anywhere. Second, such a staggering body of recorded repertoire, which such digital precision, is totally improbable, it seems to beat even that of Jenö Jandó. I am no stranger to bulk recording so I know one can only strike a balance between quantity and quality. What is presented here is just impossible from one pianist. And still he has time to operate a website, and bike around the world taking photos

I listened to some of his Shostakovich op.87 items (of course he has a complete set of those, next to the complete WTC and all the Scarlatti Sonatas) and while they do not sound like midi, sound quite good actually, they do not sound natural either with their eerie clockwork precision without even a hint of termpo flexibility.

Your opinons ? Am I being suspicious again ? I just tend to get like that when one person produces so much music.... But it is an immensely useful site all the same.

You're totally right, IMHO, Chris. I wasn't familiar with this site, so I chose a Liszt-Beethoven (which first of all, all 9 symphony transcriptions perfectly played? c'mon). The 9th finale, I listened to, which was very pleasant btw, but NOT ONE MISTAKE the whole time. Ok, maybe conceivable, but when the recitative came up, not one hint of interpretation was heard. and I think in the 1st statement of the main theme, there were a few moments of crescendo after the initial attack.

My second choice was the precipitato from Prokofiev's 7th sonata. I just discovered this amazing piece and he played it really fast, which was fine. but again NOT ONE misstep. and there're some ridiculous jumps on the last two pages. Again, no change at all in tempo.

So, my guess is, really good midi files converted to mp3 by a talented and imaginative sound technician.

*The preceding has been Nathan's two cents. Spend them wisely, he saved for years*

Yeah... I listened a bit... and I think he's fake.

At first, I thought I had proof that it was really him recording them, because i though I noticed a mistake in a piece he recorded by Satie (the 2nd dried up embryo), in which he badly performed the first chord... but then he does it again... exactly the same, with the same timing and such, when the song repeats itself in the second half.

It certianly does seem fake.

Although, to be honest... before I knew who Hamelin was, when I bought his recordings of Scriabin's complete piano sonatas, I thought he was fake as well

I thought that they were simply too perfect for one man to pull off... but now I know who he his, and I've heard other recordings, and seen youtube videos...

Who knows? Maybe this guy is real!

But... I still think he's faking it.

... Actually... I just download his recording of Scriabin's prelude in D Minor, op. 11...
He's not really playing that! It is fake, fake, fake!!! There was no emotion at all, and the playing was so very linear... it was all in perfectly straight tempo... it actually hurt to listen to. And there were no mistakes at all... and the dynamics, all seemed preprogramed... and the ending was definatly faked, the way he played the ending chords was very programmed, not very realistic.

See how quickly I can change my mind over a simple little prelude?

I can detect some little rhythmic inequities here and there in his playing that sound very human, otherwise, to my ear, these are obviously digitized renditions. Such an output for one human, with 100% note-precision, is something which would gain such notoriety, that any pianist who achieved it would be known far and wide. According to Google, this is not the case.

Anyway, I still enjoyed listening to the thousands of pieces on his site (almost 1/4 through). It's an excellent reference and Mr. Colombo should keep doing whatever it is he's doing.

He should join this site and give us a clue as to his work. There's nothing wrong in making fine MIDI-recordings just be darn sure there's no misrepresentation a la "you-know-who".



Yes, a very talented technician, indeed!

IMHO,
Pete

Yes, definitely fake, no way around that. It does not seem to matter which piece you listen to, they are all the same. Rattled off with mechanical precision, no human sould would play pieces like that. You'd have to be a Hamelin calibre pianist to pull of all nine Liszt-Beethove symphonies without one flaw. Colombo is slpaaing it on a bit to thich suggesting that he has played all this himself. Or perhaps he did, with some other definition of 'play'.

Still, an extremely useful site which I would not want to miss now that I know it. At least you can hear all the notes of a piece, if not how to perform it.

Yeah, at least it gives you a jumping off point for a little known piece.

Why don't we just ask Setrak for his two cents?

Now, that is cruel

Mr. Colombo could learn a bit from Mr. Felice.

Out of interest, I listened to Signore Colombo's rendition of Albéniz's El corpus en Sevilla. This is definitely not a live pianist . I purchased the sheet music to this piece during a visit to the Albéniz Museum in Campredon (his birthplace) in the Pyrenees last summer, whilst touring the area by motorcycle with my wife. It is still very much a work-in-progress, (there is a substantial section about 80% through which is quite horrendous to read/learn in terms of accidentals[1]), but I'll get there in the end!

-Michael B.
[1] And this from someone who plays Ludus Tonalis for relaxation

Takes one to know one

Oh dear...

I feel as if though I missed something...

I remember him as a pianist on this site a while ago... but I just checked and he has since disappeared... I still have 3 recordings of his on my ipod, two rachmaninoff moments musical, and a concert etude (which I think was just a midi file converted to mp3).

Did I miss something in the between period?
Anybody care to fill me in?
Or does it not concern me?

... Should I just go hide in the corner again?

More than likely the mp3s on your iPod are not of Setrak. He stole a lot of recordings, if not all of them, and claimed them as his own rendition. Basically he is a fake and took someone else's credit.


Now, the drama with Joe Felice a while back ago I do not have a clear understanding. His submissions were also flawless! If my memory serves correct, he chose to no longer be a part of the society just because? But the top dogs of the forum will tell us.

Actually...

When I was listening to a recording of one of the moment musical in E Minor (No. 4), I had another recording of it by some woman I found online... and I noticed that they both sniffeled at the same time at the beginning of the recordings... and the recording's sounded remarkeably similar.

But I supposed I simply dismissed it.

Hmmm... good to know that his recording's were faked.

Also... I hapened to find his website a few minutes ago, where they talked about how famous he is in his home country... do they not know yet? Does he play any of his own music, or is it all faked?

Idk... just mildly interested in the scandals of pianosociety.

Scandals of the Piano Society would make for a good title of a movie or book!


They were all faked. I doubt his compositions were of his own creation.