# Who Is Garrison Kent, Pianist



## jmgradon

My favorite recording of Rachmaninoff's Second Piano Concerto is by the London Symphony Orchestra with Garrison Kent as soloist. The performance was included in a number of anthologies that came out about 10-15 years ago. The one I purchased was called "Piano Masterpieces." I have lost the CD but not before downloading it on to my iPod. My problem is that I have never been able to track down exactly who Garrison Kent actually was. When I google his name I come up with nothing but a list of the anthologies. Since his performance was so good it made me wonder if there really was a Garrison Kent or whether this was some kind of nom de plume used by a well known pianist, who for some reason wished to dissociate himself from the final product, much like film directors who use the name Adam Smithy in the credits. Am I right about this or is Garrison Kent a real pianist of whom little trace now remains? In other words, can anyone tell me who Garrison Kent actually was?


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## Manuel

Perhaps he was _hattoed_.


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## jmgradon

Interesting reaction. Hatto, of course, was a real person to whom recordings by others were attributed. Given that someone of your extensive knowledge and background has apparently never heard of Kent, my suspicion is increasingly that there is and was no such person as Garrison Kent, but that the producers of the CD anthology used the name to cover a recording made by someone else, who, for some reason, could not be attributed. Whether this was simply piracy or something else, I do not know. What I do recall is that other pieces on the CD did feature well-known artists. If there is no Garrison Kent I would love to know who actually recorded the piece. I wonder if anyone can solve this mystery.


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## Manuel

jmgradon said:


> Interesting reaction. Hatto, of course, was a real person to whom recordings by others were attributed. Given that someone of your extensive knowledge and background has apparently never heard of Kent, my suspicion is increasingly that there is and was no such person as Garrison Kent, but that the producers of the CD anthology used the name to cover a recording made by someone else, who, for some reason, could not be attributed. Whether this was simply piracy or something else, I do not know. What I do recall is that other pieces on the CD did feature well-known artists. If there is no Garrison Kent I would love to know who actually recorded the piece. I wonder if anyone can solve this mystery.


Barrington-Coupe not only did a hatto on his wife, but he also did that to others. If I remember well, at the begining of his discographic business he would purchase cheap LPs and re-sell them under the name of invented artists.

As with this Reader's Digest pianist... Earl Wild, he ain't real.


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## jmgradon

Very interesting. My curiousity peaked, I dig a bit more digging. The record label that produced the "Piano Masterpieces" album is called Classical Heritage. It seems to be a kind of KTel for classical music, with a small stable of CD's, including another called "Great Melodies of the Classics." Some of the pianists are real people, such as Sylvia Capova, Dubravka Tomsic, Arthur Lima and Hans Lang. Many of the orchestras are Eastern European. However, they have another album devoted to Beethoven symphonies drawn almost exclusively from the Royal Philharmonic, the same orchestra alleged to have performed with Kent. I wonder if there is any connection between Barrington-Coupe and Classical Heritage or what the story is. Whatever the story, I bet its interesting.


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## Manuel

jmgradon said:


> Very interesting. My curiousity peaked, I dig a bit more digging. The record label that produced the "Piano Masterpieces" album is called Classical Heritage. It seems to be a kind of KTel for classical music, with a small stable of CD's, including another called "Great Melodies of the Classics." Some of the pianists are real people, such as Sylvia Capova, *Dubravka Tomsic*, *Arthur Lima* and Hans Lang. Many of the orchestras are Eastern European. However, they have another album devoted to Beethoven symphonies drawn almost exclusively from the Royal Philharmonic, the same orchestra alleged to have performed with Kent. I wonder if there is any connection between Barrington-Coupe and Classical Heritage or what the story is. Whatever the story, I bet its interesting.


My very first piano cds were concertos played by Tomsic (the Emperor, both Brahms', et al.). And if by Arthur Lima you mean _Arthur Moreira Lima_, then you have a very good pianist there. Hadn't he competed with Argerich in HER Chopin Piano competition, I'm pretty sure he would have made it to the first place.


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## marval

A little late I know but, if you look on the cd universe website there is an album called Piano Materpieces. Including Rachmaninov's piano concerto no 2 played apparently by none other than Kent Garrison. Also playing are Sylvia Capova, Dubrovka Tomsic and Hans Lang. I would be interested to hear it, sounds good. But I suppose it still does not prove who he is.


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## jmgradon

Yes, this is the album in question. It appears that the piece by Garrison Kent is included in it with a number of clearly real, relatively well-know pianists. But, while people have heard of them, no one seems to have heard of Garrison Kent, creating the suspicion that this is a fake name for a performance by another artist.


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