In a follow up to this post.

From BBC News:

William Barrington-Coupe sent a letter to the BIS label to admit faking parts of CDs by Joyce Hatto, the label said.

BIS said he told them he did it because his wife had cancer and could be heard groaning in pain during recordings.

“It is self-evident that I have acted stupidly, dishonestly and unlawfully,” he wrote, the label told the BBC.

Hatto was hailed as an unsung classical music star when she died in June 2006.

But BIS chief executive Robert von Bahr said he had received a letter from Mr Barrington-Coupe in which he acknowledged the deception.

“It is very touching and he does go through every detail and how he did it and he makes it very credible,” Mr von Bahr said.

According to Gramophone magazine, Barrington-Coupe admitted passing off other people’s recordings as being by his wife, but he did it to give her the illusion of a great end to an overlooked career.

He initially patched in short passages by other performers who shared Hatto’s sound and style to cover her grunts of pain, the magazine said.

But as he got better at the process, he started inserting longer sections.

Despite the confession, Mr von Bahr said he would not take legal action.

“I don’t see how either myself or the industry can get any satisfaction for pure revenge,” he said. “I think the whole thing is deeply tragic story.”

What a sad end to a legacy.