There is an amazing amount of misleading and false information around.
Pianists' biographies, press releases, CD jackets, as well as concert and competition programme books state the artists' competition successes, but these details are sometimes incorrect.
On this page, a collection of examples is presented that contain misleading
information.
(See below for a closer explanation.)
From the menus below, you may choose a pianist's name or a competition. The incorrect information and its source will then be shown.
Choose a name: |
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Choose a competition: |
When Gustav Alink published his book "15000 Pianists" (first edition, 1990) which revealed the achievements of pianists in international piano competitions all over the world, it caused quite some commotion in the piano world, among competition organisers (who were evaluating contestants' application documents before carrying out a preselection), music critics and journalists, concert managers and some of the pianists themselves. With this book, it could be checked which prizes all those pianists had actually won, which quite often proved to be different from what other official-looking sources suggested ...
Dutch journalist Roland de Beer (music critic for one of the largest daily newspapers in The Netherlands: De Volkskrant) who reported extensively on Gustav's publications, found the situation (of pianists or organisers presenting false information) so disturbing that he gave Gustav the idea to devote a separate section of AAF's web site to these instances.
And here it is. It will be extended with more and more striking examples.
It should be emphasised that the pianists themselves are not necessarily to be blamed to give false information. In many cases, the incorrect publication may very well have resulted from incomplete and unclear details, misinterpretation, language problems, or other persons trying to help who do not realise that they present information which can be recognised as wrong, and might thus even harm the pianist they are trying to help.
(Readers may wonder how much time Gustav spends in tracing and verifying all these instances. The fact is that he is triggered as soon as he sees or reads such information. Having done the underlying research for more than 23 years with great determination and devotion, and having checked all details himself (including all different spellings of names) with utmost care in preparation of his publications, he has memorised thousands of names and results. This enables him to spot and detect wrong information very quickly.)