Miserable bitcheries at the Telegraph
mainThe Daily Telegraph’s obituary of Peter Andry was not so much flawed as riddled with avoidable errors.
It asserted, among other nonsense, that Herbert von Karajan was exclusive to DG; in fact, he was always shared with Decca, RCA or EMI.
It claimed that Peter recorded Gorecki’s third symphony; idiotic – that was Nonesuch, over which he had no control. It reported that he took over all of EMI’s classical interests after Legge’s departure; actually several years after. And so on, paragraph by paragraph.
The obit repeated three first-hand anecdotes from my history of classical recording without attribution. I brought these failures to the attention of the obituaries editor, Harry de Quetteville, who disdained to reply.
The obits in the Telegraph are unsigned, a device intended to give them authority. But the paper has descended so far from its former standards that anonymity merely becomes a cover for plagiarism, laziness and mediocrity.
The Telegraph obits were once the first place a reader turned for entertainment and enlightenment. On this evidence, they are no longer worth trusting.
Don’t get it right, get it written as the old saying goes. I always hate reading about these things. Where are the *#%^^ fact-checkers?