Legacy Matters

Fraud Exposed by ITunes, Widower Confesses

Joyce Hatto was a little known pianist in London when she fell ill and moved to New Zealand.

Her recordings, CDs made when she was in her late 60s and 70s, are staggering, showing a masterful technique, a preternatural ability to adapt to different styles and a depth of musical insight hardly seen elsewhere.
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Little wonder that when she at last succumbed to her cancer last year at age 77 — recording Beethoven’s Sonata No. 26, “Les Adieux,” from a wheelchair in her last days — The Guardian called her “one of the greatest pianists Britain has ever produced.” Nice touch, that, playing Beethoven’s farewell sonata from a wheelchair. It went along with her image in the press as an indomitable spirit with a charming personality

In her obituary, the Guardian called her "one of the greatest pianists Britain has ever produced...Her legacy is a discography that in quantity, musical range and consistent quality has been equalled by few pianists in history.

But it was all a fraud that fooled many music critics that only came to light after her death last year - exposed by  iTunes.

You have to read Shoot the Piano Player to find out how.

Now it appears her widower William Barrington Coupe passed off other people's recordings as his wife's to give her the illusion of a great end to an unfairly overlooked career.  Or at least that's what he said in a letter to Gramophone Magazine

I Did It For My Wife.

Now he deeply regrets what has happened. He feels that he has acted stupidly, dishonestly and unlawfully. However, he maintains that his wife knew nothing of the deception