Dinu Lipatti – The Last Recital
Applause and arpeggios [0:33]
Johann Sebastian BACH (1685-1750)
Partita No.1 in B flat minor, BWV 825 [17:20]
Applause and arpeggios [0:26]
Wolfgang Amadeus MOZART (1756-1791)
Sonata No.8 in A minor, K.310
Franz SCHUBERT (1797-1828)
Impromptus, Op.90, D.899 [14:10]
No.3 in G Flat [5:06];. No.2 in E Flat [5:56]
Fryderyk CHOPIN (1810-1849): Waltzes: No.5 in A Flat, Op.42
‘Two-Four Waltz’ [3:29]; No.6 in D Flat Op.64 No.1 ‘Minute Waltz’ [1:37];
No.9 in A Flat, Op.69 No.1 [3:13]; No.7 in C Sharp Minor, Op.64 No.2 [1:53];
No.11 in G Flat, Op.70 No.1 [1:24]; No.10 in B Minor, Op.69 No.2 [3:00]; No.14
In E Minor, Op.posth. [2:10]; No.3 in A Minor, Op.34 No.2 ‘Valse brillante’
[3:26]; No.4 in F, Op.34 No.3 ‘Valse brillante’ [1:57]; No.12 in F Minor,
Op.70 No.2 [1:20]; No.13 in D Flat, Op.70 No.3 [1:51]; No.8 in A Flat, Op.64
No.3 [2:39]; No.1 in E Flat, Op.18 ‘Grande valse brillante’ [4:10]; No.2 in
A flat major, Op.34 No.1 [4:42]
Dinu Lipatti (piano)
rec. Salle du Parlement, Palais de justice, Besançon, France, 16 September
1950 - first issued on Columbia 33CX 1499 and 1500; Recorded in studio No.2,
Radio Geneva, Switzerland, on 8 July 1950. Matrix no. CZX 278-1A. First issued
on Columbia LX 1341 (Op. 34 No 1)
Reissue Producer and Audio Restoration Engineer: Mark Obert-Thorn.
NAXOS 8.111366 [78:39]
I often think how lucky future generations will be when they delve into the
past. There is, I suspect, almost no area of human activity that has not been
catalogued on film, in books, on DVDs, videos, the internet and CDs. Provided
all these resources stay intact and future generations have the technologies
to access the information then they will be much luckier than historians from
the past who had to work much harder to unlock the secrets of the past. In
musical terms what a wealth of material they will have to dive into! I have
just read in BBC Music Magazine that work has been done on original matrices
to present on CD recordings made by Grieg in Paris in 1903! Aren’t we lucky!
This is by way of an introduction to this disc of the last ever recital by
one of the all-time greats of the piano. The recital has been issued before
on LP and CD but never as cleanly and crisply as on this one. Mark Obert-Thorn,
that genius in the field of audio restoration, has done an incredible job.
Dinu Lipatti (1917-1950) was a phenomenon that occurs very rarely. He was
such a perfectionist that his recorded legacy barely fills five CDs. He would
not, for instance record Beethoven, saying he would require four years practice
before he would commit the ‘Emperor’ concerto to disc! He confined his playing
to a small number of composers and, together with Schumann, rarely played
any other than those represented on this disc: Bach, Mozart, Schubert and
Chopin. However, what truly sublime playing we get to hear due to his fastidiousness.
It is, therefore, small wonder that he has reached cult status along with
pianists like Glenn Gould and a few others. Beginning his piano studies at
the age of 8 he won second prize at the Vienna International Piano Competition
at the age of 17. The fact that he was not awarded first prize caused jury
member Alfred Cortot (no less) to resign in protest and to invite the young
Lipatti to study with him in Paris. There he was also fortunate to have lessons
in composition from Paul Dukas and Nadia Boulanger. The cruel hand of fate
struck at the early age of 26 in 1943 when he was diagnosed with a form of
leukaemia that would claim his life only seven years later. Although he did
tour Europe he had to cancel planned visits to the USA and Australia and also
a planned recording session in London for Columbia. The equipment was sent
to Geneva where between 3 and 12 July 1950 he made some of his most famous
recordings – a kind of last testament to his genius. The final track is from
this session as he was too ill to include it in his last ever recital which
occupies all the other tracks on this disc. At that recital he was so weak
that he had to be helped to the piano and, against his doctors’ advice gave
the performance here recorded. He died aged 33 less than three months later.
When you think of the state of physical exhaustion and hopelessness he was
afflicted with it is truly remarkable to hear this disc. There is no hint
of any of this in his playing which is magisterial, exhibiting power and a
love for the music that inhabits every note. Just listen to the presto of
Mozart’s Sonata No.8 or Schubert’s Impromptu No.3 for example. It all makes
for very emotional listening coupled with astonishment at what a true genius
can achieve with iron determination against such overwhelming odds. Lipatti
was like a comet lighting up the musical sky and one that comes around very
infrequently but what glory there is when we are privileged to be witness
to it! This is a disc to cherish and to relish at every playing.
Steve Arloff
This is a disc to cherish and to relish at every playing.