What do these piano pieces by Mozart, Mendelssohn, and Haydn all have in common?
(Besides the fact that they're all performed by the same guy)
Mozart, Sonata in D Major, Anh. 294d, mov. 3
Mendelssohn's Song Without Words, Op. posth., No. 3d.
Haydn, Piano Sonata in E-flat Major, Hob. LVII:1-12
Answer: They're all hoaxes. The pieces weren't composed by Mozart, Mendelssohn, or Haydn.
Last year someone going under the name 'The Mad Rhino' began uploading videos of himself playing pieces by famous composers. The videos caught the attention of classical-music fans because although the pieces all sounded pretty convincing, no one recognized them.
The Slipped Disc blog recently revealed the pieces to be hoaxes by a classically trained Chicago lawyer:
The man who has been perpetrating intelligent, mildly imperfect copies of great classics on Youtube has confirmed his identity. He is a Chicago lawyer, Dmitry Feofanov. Originally from Moscow, he trained as a pianist and conductor, developing a taste for such difficult esoterica as Alkan's solo piano concerto and a concerto by Stenhammar which he rediscovered...
As for the musical hoaxes on Youtube, Dmitry assures us that all of them were hallmarked with his initials to keep the business honest. 'Every fake opus number had a letter that came with it–either "d" or "f", and the Mozart key sequence of the movements was D-f#-D, and the Mozart fake opus number was the same as the "Adelaide" concerto, which was hoaxed by Casadesus.'
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