Saturday, January 19, 2013

From Russia (or Someone) With Love



Russia has offered us some mighty powerful music by way of Tchaikovsky and Mussorgsky and Rachmaninoff and so many others that I could be here all day looking up how to spell their names. Russia is home to the heavy hitters of symphony. 

So what would you do if you received a letter from the Moscow Philharmonic Orchestra proclaiming that they are going to be touring in your area and would like to perform in your town? I figure you would trip all over yourself to get to the Mayor and City Council and the Rotary Club and whoever else you could think of waving that letter in their face.


I suspect that is how Ms. Linus Fung of Hong Kong felt when she received such news back in 2000.  She was the Senior Manager of Music for the city. She excitedly scurried around and got commitments from the fine folks at the Hong Kong Cultural Centre and the Tuen Wan and Tsuen Wan Town Halls for performances from August 7th through the 13th of that year.

Tuen Wan
Hong Kong Cultural Centre



Tsuen Wan

The upcoming performances were well publicized and the audience was packed for all performances by the prestigious orchestra. By all reports, the orchestra performed magnificently. The Hong Kongian music critics were out in full force busily writing glowing reviews. One newspaper enthusiastically proclaimed that the music was full of “…exciting acclerandos and heart-stopping rubatos.” Attendees to the concert paid the equivalent of $31US to witness all those rubatos.

What a satisfying musical summer in Hong Kong, and how satisfied Ms. Fung must have felt in pulling it all together.

But…uh, there was one minor problem.


Yelena Tikomirova
The publicity of the Hong Kong performances kind of confused Ms. Yelena Tikhomirova, who was the agent for the Moscow Philharmonic and Dmitri Yablonsky, the principal guest conductor of the orchestra. It seems that the way they remembered it, the group was performing at the Menton Festival in France from August 6th to the 8th, and then in Lisbon on the 9th to the 12th, and finally at the Llivia Festival in Spain on the 13rh.

 I’m pretty sure that none of these places are near Hong Kong.

Well uh…who exactly performed in Hong Kong?



Linus Fung
A defensive Linus Fung said, “If you receive proposals from a very renown orchestra, you would not doubt that it was actually that group.” She continued, “We are very concerned about the issue.”

This became a major scandal in Hong Kong with editorials flying back and forth. Some demanded refunds. But then other editorials asked, ‘Why? You saw a magnificent performance.’

Dmitri Yablonsky
If you think the Hong Kongites were flustered, think of how they felt in Russia. Mr. Yablonsky lamented, “It is a huge scandal in Moscow, very upsetting. It takes years to set up an orchestra, then some pick-up orchestra comes along and says they are Moscow Philharmonic Orchestra.  The Orchestra  musicians still don’t seem to know what happened – and they couldn’t because they were on tour at the time.”

To this day, no one knows for sure who performed in Hong Kong in August of 2000. It is speculated that an ad hoc group of Russian musicians got together and pulled off this magnificent hoax.

And performed brilliantly.

You think I made this up, don’t you? Well, if I did, so did

The Deseret News  and  The South China Morning Post and The BBC.

P.S. I am still unable to post comments even after fiddling around every way I know to fiddle. Now I guess I gotta' fire off something to someone to get this straightened out.

P.S.S.  'Dark UFO - Top Blogger Contributor' came to my rescue. It seems I needed to enable 3rd Party Cookies in Firefox to get the commenting thing to work. Sigh.... 

    

29 comments:

  1. Fascinating story, and brilliantly told. Jeez Jerry, you have such an entertaining way of "speaking". (And it does feel like you're speaking directly to us).

    The musicians certainly pulled off a hoax. But I think anytime there's a hoax, or even a practical joke, the recipient is likely to feel embarrassed for falling for it. I'd guess that for the Hong Kong audience, it's not just a matter of whether or not they got their money's worth for the fine performance.

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    1. Ah yes Jerry you made it all so real as if it was just happening to you!
      Darn that some impostures have even reached that business, the concert tours.
      No images of the players?? These days face recognition is used for everything. hehe
      Why did you put a reference to Rotary club along side the mayor?
      Do you have a fondness for any of those great artists?

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    2. Jon -- Oh yeah. I'm sure that the music aficionados of Hong Kong were indeed mortified at being duped. I think it is interesting that I have been unable to find any reference to who pulled the whole thing off. We can think of one or two or a few people successfully pulling the wool over people's eyes...but eighty or so people? To me, that is the amazing part.

      KleinsteMotte -- No, I could find no file photos of the actual orchestra that performed. The picture shown is a stock photo of the Moscow Philharmonic.

      My father used to be heavily involved in the Rotary Club -- and back in its day the club seemed to be a force to contend with in local politics and society. I threw in the Rotary Club reference on the fly...just popped in my head. But then I had a little history with them.

      I do have a fondness for symphonic works, but mostly for non-Russian composers....except for perhaps the 'Great Gate of Kiev' ('Pictures at an Exhibition' by Mussorgski) and if I am feeling brave, some stuff by Stravinsky. I lean more toward Villa Lobos and H. Owens Reed ('La Fiesta Mexicana') and Aaron Copeland. This is coming off as sounding elitist....so I need to temper it with the notion that I have slacked off on listening to this stuff in recent years and have been paying more attention to jazz and stuff like Mannheim Steamroller and...okay, I'll admit it...Frankie Layne.

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    3. Well music of all kinds is part of the spice of life. Can't picture any society without it. Frankie's done his share of acting singing and writing. The youth of today seem to be unaware of the fellow :(

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  2. If it was, as it seems, a hoax it was a grand hoax. Laughing but loving it...Catalyst.

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    1. It is all the grander that it was successfully pulled off by so many people...and no one has taken credit for it.

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  3. Sometimes hoaxes really deliver. I enjoyed reading about this~ and I will thoroughly check should I ever get to see this great Philharmonic in action~

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    1. Thank you for visiting Shelly. I get a kick out of digging into oddities of history, and I thought this one to be particularly interesting. You might be interested in another oddity to discussed here: http://gentlysaid.blogspot.com/2010/09/le-roi-est-mort.html.

      Hope to see you again.

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  4. Ha, how funny is that.;) I love hoaxes that are brilliant in every aspect and manage to deceive due to actual talent.;)
    I am glad you solved your comment problem, as very few leave such endearing, substantial and poignant comments as you do - so thank you.;)
    And a happy "belated" New Year.;)
    xoxo

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    1. It's always a joy to see you here. Yeah, I get a kick out of elaborate hoaxes too.

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  5. Oh Jerry, what a brilliant thing to pull off and have such gifted musicans! Bravo !!

    Enjoy your blog.

    Jenn



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    1. I appreciate your kind comments and I certainly hope you will return.

      Sadly I couldn't get in to see your blog. I hope that some day the door cracks open a little.

      Best wishes

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  7. What a marvelous story, and what a marvelous kind of hoax. Not that I, you know, endorse identity theft or fraud or any of the other crimes that were committed here... but I still cannot help but admire the creativity and the ... well... the balls.

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  8. Good one Jerry! Very funny and very creative!
    You are a talented bloke...

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  9. good job Thanks lot for this useful article, nice post

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  10. How amazing that no one has come forward, knowing the talent they hold! That must have been a HUGE group of unusually humble people! Either that or they fear being sued or maybe something more mysterious... I've missed your blog posts, and am hoping to get back into the swing of things now more regularly too. I agree with Zuzanna too - no one leaves comments that make me smile more than you! You are a blessing! I hope you are well and life finds you in happy surroundings. :)

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  11. I have enjoyed reading of this 'hoax' and indeed, I agree, if it was magnificent, and thoroughy enjoyed, well, be that as it may.
    I think I really enjoy hoaxes that are played on the 'intelligentia' of society!

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  12. Oi, start blogging again!

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  13. Hi Jerry....I am hoping all is well with you. I have been away from blogging but when I came to visit discovered you have not been blogging these past 7 months. I remember reading something about some health issues....I am sending you healing and happiness and trust you are well but just out traveling and having fun for the summer....miss your spark on the blogshere!

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  14. Where did you go, Jerry? I've been thinking about you, I hope all is well and you come back to your blog soon.

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  15. OH GAUD I have missed your posts during my latest and longest computer meltdown!!!!!!

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  16. Just checking in Jerry. I hope all is well with you. You are missed...

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  17. Jerry, prayers up that all is well!

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  18. Anyone know what's happened to Jerry and paulz blog bloggers? All my favourites have left the building it seems...

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  19. Nope, don't know what happened to Jerry. Sad he is gone. r.

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  20. Hi, Really great effort. Everyone must read this article. Thanks for sharing.

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  21. Awesome work.Just wanted to drop a comment and say I am new to your blog and really like what I am reading.Thanks for the share

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