!"###$%%&'(&)*+,--*./01!"###$%%&'(&)*+,--*./0ჹ#5&&#!14#&&6,7*8,&9
Dinu had the courage to offer them the Bach Chorale in Allemande has a grace and buoyancy and Lipatti does Also available G which became his swansong…’ not run away with the Gigue but keeps a strict and firm Lipatti died a few months later on 2nd December hold on the reins. Throughout there is a clarity of sound 1950. which was a hallmark of Lipatti’s playing and the same DINU LIPATTI It is not surprising that Lipatti achieved cult status facet can be heard in the Mozart Sonata. Evenness of in the years following his death at the age of only 33. attack and scrupulous attention to gradation of Lipatti was an extremely sensitive musician and a man dynamics is everywhere evident and while the first The Last Recital whose approach to the piano was one of utter movement can often sound aggressive, in Lipatti’s fastidiousness, always striving for perfection in every hands it becomes almost stoical. A perfect tempo for the Bach • Mozart • Schubert • Chopin aspect of his interpretation and performance. The Andante prevents it from dragging. programme of the Besançon concert contained The impassioned energy of the G flat Impromptu by LIP repertoire that Lipatti had recorded for Columbia a few Schubert is released by the sunny and glistening NU ATT months before but a live performance is always Impromptu in E flat which displays Lipatti’s flawlessly DI I different from a studio recording. The concert was even scale technique. The fourteen Chopin Waltzes are broadcast and it is this radio recording that is presented played in the order that Lipatti chose for performance here, although it would appear that the Bach encore but according to his wife, he was too physically weak to mentioned by his wife was not recorded. It is interesting play the last Waltz in A flat, Op. 34 No. 1, so it is to hear that Lipatti plays modulating passages between included here from his commercial recording of a few works, something that was far more common in the months before. The Waltzes are chaste and elegant, shot early twentieth century and sometimes heard in later through with nobility and a firm rhythmic foundation. years from Shura Cherkassky. The Bach Partita, which opens the programme, is often almost austere, but the © 2011 Jonathan Summers 8.111327 8.111346
19 s 50 Recording
Dinu Lipatti, Piano
8.111365 8.112049 8.111366 5 8.111366 3 !"###$%%&'(&)*+,--*./01!"###$%%&'(&)*+,--*./0ჹ#5&&#!14#&&6,7*8,&4
GREAT PIANISTS – LIPATTI & No. 7 in C sharp minor, Op. 64, No. 2 1:53 Dinu Lipatti (1917-1950): The Last Recital * No. 11 in G flat major, Op. 70, No. 1 1:24 Bach • Mozart • Schubert • Chopin ( No. 10 in B minor, Op. 69, No. 2 3:00 DINU LIPATTI ) Named Contantin by his parents, but always known as him to return to Geneva immediately and cancel No. 14 in E minor, Op. posth. 2:10 Dinu, Lipatti was born into a cultivated and musical engagements for a year. Again, his health vacillated: in The Last Recital ¡ No. 3 in A minor, Op. 34, No. 2 ‘Valse brillante’ 3:26 family with a violinist father who had studied with June he wrote to Musicescu that his health was ™ No. 4 in F major, Op. 34, No. 3 ‘Valse brillante’ 1:57 Pablo de Sarasate and Carl Flesch, whilst his mother improving, yet by September he wrote, ‘As was feared, 1 was a pianist. Lipatti was a frail child so his parents did a new crisis has left me immobilized in bed.’ However, Applause and arpeggios 0:33 £ No. 12 in F minor, Op. 70, No. 2 1:20 not send him to school but employed tutors. His first by February 1950 he was well enough to play ¢ No. 13 in D flat major, Op. 70, No. 3 1:51 formal piano lessons, at the age of eight, were with Schumann’s Piano Concerto in A minor, Op. 54, with Johann Sebastian BACH (1685-1750): – No. 8 in A flat major, Op. 64, No. 3 2:39 Mihail Jora who prepared Lipatti for entrance to the Ernest Ansermet in Geneva and played more concerts in Partita No. 1 in B flat minor, BWV 825 17:20 § No. 1 in E flat major, Op. 18 ‘Grande valse brillante’ 4:10 Bucharest Conservatory at the age of eleven where he Lucerne, Zurich and Berne. It was at this time, through 2 Praeludium 1:51 studied with Florica Musicescu. During his time at the help and financial support from his friends, that Lipatti Recorded in the Salle du Parlement, Palais de Justice, Besançon, France, Piano 3 Allemande 2:33 Conservatory Lipatti performed the Grieg began to use the new American drug cortisone. This on 16th September 1950 Concerto in A minor, Op. 16 4 , and in 1932 he graduated gave his health such a boost that he was able to Courante 2:52 First issued on Columbia 33CX 1499 and 1500 at the age of fifteen with a performance of Chopin’s contemplate a series of recording sessions for 5 Sarabande 4:41 Piano Concerto No. 1 in E minor, Op. 11. Columbia. He was not well enough to travel to London 6 At the age of seventeen Lipatti was awarded second to record, so equipment was sent to Geneva and Menuet 1; Menuet 2 2:51 ¶ No. 2 in A flat major, Op. 34 No. 1 4:42 7 prize at the Vienna International Piano Competition, a between the 3rd and 12th July Lipatti set down some of Gigue 2:32 Recorded in in Studio No. 2, Radio Geneva, Switzerland, on 8th July 1950 fact that caused jury member Alfred Cortot to resign in his most famous recordings – a last testament to his Matrix no.: CZX 278-1A protest that Lipatti had not won first prize. Cortot genius as performer and artist. 8 Applause and arpeggios 0:26 invited Lipatti to study with him at his École Normale Near the end of August 1950 he performed First issued on Columbia LX 1341 de Musique in Paris where he also received piano Mozart’s Piano Concerto, K. 467, with Karajan at the lessons from Cortot’s assistant Yvonne Lefébure and Lucerne Festival and then began to prepare for a recital Wolfgang Amadeus MOZART (1756-1791): Dinu Lipatti, Piano studied composition with Paul Dukas and Nadia at the Besançon Festival on 16th September. With Sonata No. 8 in A minor, K. 310 14:10 Boulanger. renewed strength provided by the cortisone, Lipatti had 9 It was in 1943, at the age of 26, that Lipatti was plans to travel to London to record Chopin’s Piano Allegro maestoso 5:20 Reissue Producer and Audio Restoration Engineer: Mark Obert-Thorn 0 diagnosed with lymphogranulomatosis, a form of Concerto No. 1 in E minor, Op. 11, and perform the Andante cantabile 5:56 leukaemia that would take his life only seven years Piano Concerto in A minor, Op. 54 by Schumann at the ! Presto 2:54 later. He left Romania, where he had been teaching and Albert Hall with Furtwängler. Whether false optimism, composing since the outbreak of the Second World or just wanting to present a brave face to the world, Franz SCHUBERT (1797-1828): War, and toured in Sweden, Finland and Germany, from Lipatti wrote to Musicescu two days before the where he travelled to Switzerland. After the War he Besançon concert, ‘Splendidly back on my feet. Little Impromptus, Op. 90, D. 899 toured and performed in Europe but cancelled tours of by little my vitality and my muscular strength are @ No. 3 in G flat major 5:06 Producer’s Note America and Australia owing to ill health. He remained returning.’ However, on the day of the recital his wife # No. 2 in E flat major 4:10 optimistic but had to contend with relapses, suffering stated that the doctors attempted to persuade Lipatti to The primary sources for the present transfer of the recital were first edition British LP pressings. The original LPs had fever, pain and physical weakness. He described his cancel, but he refused, and at the rehearsal the day been transferred from acetates recorded from the broadcast of the recital. The sound as presented there was muffled, state of health in a letter to Paul Sacher, ‘It is not the before, he was ‘in a state of utter collapse and could Fryderyk CHOPIN (1810-1849): Waltzes and featured several instances of pitch instability. I have tried to open up the sound as much as possible through suffering which eats me up but the constant relapses hardly drag himself to the concert hall to try out the $ No. 5 in A flat major, Op. 42 ‘Two-Four Waltz’ 3:29 equalization, and have corrected the pitch problems. I have also appended Lipatti’s studio recording of the one which never stop. No one can imagine the strain. In this piano.’ On the day of the concert he was ‘choking and Chopin waltz he was unable to play at the recital due to exhaustion from his illness, in order to complete the set. % No. 6 in D flat major, Op. 64, No. 1 ‘Minute Waltz’ 1:37 state I cannot play, compose nor even write letters.’ on the point of fainting.’ According to his wife he had ^ While on tour in the Netherlands in January 1949 no strength to play the last of the fourteen Chopin No. 9 in A flat major, Op. 69, No. 1 3:13 Mark Obert-Thorn Lipatti suffered a particularly bad relapse, which caused Waltzes – ‘Broken by fatigue and hardly able to breathe,
8.111366 2 8.111366 3 4 8.111366 !"###$%%&'(&)*+,--*./01!"###$%%&'(&)*+,--*./0ჹ#5&&#!14#&&6,7*8,&4
GREAT PIANISTS – LIPATTI & No. 7 in C sharp minor, Op. 64, No. 2 1:53 Dinu Lipatti (1917-1950): The Last Recital * No. 11 in G flat major, Op. 70, No. 1 1:24 Bach • Mozart • Schubert • Chopin ( No. 10 in B minor, Op. 69, No. 2 3:00 DINU LIPATTI ) Named Contantin by his parents, but always known as him to return to Geneva immediately and cancel No. 14 in E minor, Op. posth. 2:10 Dinu, Lipatti was born into a cultivated and musical engagements for a year. Again, his health vacillated: in The Last Recital ¡ No. 3 in A minor, Op. 34, No. 2 ‘Valse brillante’ 3:26 family with a violinist father who had studied with June he wrote to Musicescu that his health was ™ No. 4 in F major, Op. 34, No. 3 ‘Valse brillante’ 1:57 Pablo de Sarasate and Carl Flesch, whilst his mother improving, yet by September he wrote, ‘As was feared, 1 was a pianist. Lipatti was a frail child so his parents did a new crisis has left me immobilized in bed.’ However, Applause and arpeggios 0:33 £ No. 12 in F minor, Op. 70, No. 2 1:20 not send him to school but employed tutors. His first by February 1950 he was well enough to play ¢ No. 13 in D flat major, Op. 70, No. 3 1:51 formal piano lessons, at the age of eight, were with Schumann’s Piano Concerto in A minor, Op. 54, with Johann Sebastian BACH (1685-1750): – No. 8 in A flat major, Op. 64, No. 3 2:39 Mihail Jora who prepared Lipatti for entrance to the Ernest Ansermet in Geneva and played more concerts in Partita No. 1 in B flat minor, BWV 825 17:20 § No. 1 in E flat major, Op. 18 ‘Grande valse brillante’ 4:10 Bucharest Conservatory at the age of eleven where he Lucerne, Zurich and Berne. It was at this time, through 2 Praeludium 1:51 studied with Florica Musicescu. During his time at the help and financial support from his friends, that Lipatti Recorded in the Salle du Parlement, Palais de Justice, Besançon, France, Piano 3 Allemande 2:33 Conservatory Lipatti performed the Grieg began to use the new American drug cortisone. This on 16th September 1950 Concerto in A minor, Op. 16 4 , and in 1932 he graduated gave his health such a boost that he was able to Courante 2:52 First issued on Columbia 33CX 1499 and 1500 at the age of fifteen with a performance of Chopin’s contemplate a series of recording sessions for 5 Sarabande 4:41 Piano Concerto No. 1 in E minor, Op. 11. Columbia. He was not well enough to travel to London 6 At the age of seventeen Lipatti was awarded second to record, so equipment was sent to Geneva and Menuet 1; Menuet 2 2:51 ¶ No. 2 in A flat major, Op. 34 No. 1 4:42 7 prize at the Vienna International Piano Competition, a between the 3rd and 12th July Lipatti set down some of Gigue 2:32 Recorded in in Studio No. 2, Radio Geneva, Switzerland, on 8th July 1950 fact that caused jury member Alfred Cortot to resign in his most famous recordings – a last testament to his Matrix no.: CZX 278-1A protest that Lipatti had not won first prize. Cortot genius as performer and artist. 8 Applause and arpeggios 0:26 invited Lipatti to study with him at his École Normale Near the end of August 1950 he performed First issued on Columbia LX 1341 de Musique in Paris where he also received piano Mozart’s Piano Concerto, K. 467, with Karajan at the lessons from Cortot’s assistant Yvonne Lefébure and Lucerne Festival and then began to prepare for a recital Wolfgang Amadeus MOZART (1756-1791): Dinu Lipatti, Piano studied composition with Paul Dukas and Nadia at the Besançon Festival on 16th September. With Sonata No. 8 in A minor, K. 310 14:10 Boulanger. renewed strength provided by the cortisone, Lipatti had 9 It was in 1943, at the age of 26, that Lipatti was plans to travel to London to record Chopin’s Piano Allegro maestoso 5:20 Reissue Producer and Audio Restoration Engineer: Mark Obert-Thorn 0 diagnosed with lymphogranulomatosis, a form of Concerto No. 1 in E minor, Op. 11, and perform the Andante cantabile 5:56 leukaemia that would take his life only seven years Piano Concerto in A minor, Op. 54 by Schumann at the ! Presto 2:54 later. He left Romania, where he had been teaching and Albert Hall with Furtwängler. Whether false optimism, composing since the outbreak of the Second World or just wanting to present a brave face to the world, Franz SCHUBERT (1797-1828): War, and toured in Sweden, Finland and Germany, from Lipatti wrote to Musicescu two days before the where he travelled to Switzerland. After the War he Besançon concert, ‘Splendidly back on my feet. Little Impromptus, Op. 90, D. 899 toured and performed in Europe but cancelled tours of by little my vitality and my muscular strength are @ No. 3 in G flat major 5:06 Producer’s Note America and Australia owing to ill health. He remained returning.’ However, on the day of the recital his wife # No. 2 in E flat major 4:10 optimistic but had to contend with relapses, suffering stated that the doctors attempted to persuade Lipatti to The primary sources for the present transfer of the recital were first edition British LP pressings. The original LPs had fever, pain and physical weakness. He described his cancel, but he refused, and at the rehearsal the day been transferred from acetates recorded from the broadcast of the recital. The sound as presented there was muffled, state of health in a letter to Paul Sacher, ‘It is not the before, he was ‘in a state of utter collapse and could Fryderyk CHOPIN (1810-1849): Waltzes and featured several instances of pitch instability. I have tried to open up the sound as much as possible through suffering which eats me up but the constant relapses hardly drag himself to the concert hall to try out the $ No. 5 in A flat major, Op. 42 ‘Two-Four Waltz’ 3:29 equalization, and have corrected the pitch problems. I have also appended Lipatti’s studio recording of the one which never stop. No one can imagine the strain. In this piano.’ On the day of the concert he was ‘choking and Chopin waltz he was unable to play at the recital due to exhaustion from his illness, in order to complete the set. % No. 6 in D flat major, Op. 64, No. 1 ‘Minute Waltz’ 1:37 state I cannot play, compose nor even write letters.’ on the point of fainting.’ According to his wife he had ^ While on tour in the Netherlands in January 1949 no strength to play the last of the fourteen Chopin No. 9 in A flat major, Op. 69, No. 1 3:13 Mark Obert-Thorn Lipatti suffered a particularly bad relapse, which caused Waltzes – ‘Broken by fatigue and hardly able to breathe,
8.111366 2 8.111366 3 4 8.111366 !"###$%%&'(&)*+,--*./01!"###$%%&'(&)*+,--*./0ჹ#5&&#!14#&&6,7*8,&9
Dinu had the courage to offer them the Bach Chorale in Allemande has a grace and buoyancy and Lipatti does Also available G which became his swansong…’ not run away with the Gigue but keeps a strict and firm Lipatti died a few months later on 2nd December hold on the reins. Throughout there is a clarity of sound 1950. which was a hallmark of Lipatti’s playing and the same DINU LIPATTI It is not surprising that Lipatti achieved cult status facet can be heard in the Mozart Sonata. Evenness of in the years following his death at the age of only 33. attack and scrupulous attention to gradation of Lipatti was an extremely sensitive musician and a man dynamics is everywhere evident and while the first The Last Recital whose approach to the piano was one of utter movement can often sound aggressive, in Lipatti’s fastidiousness, always striving for perfection in every hands it becomes almost stoical. A perfect tempo for the Bach • Mozart • Schubert • Chopin aspect of his interpretation and performance. The Andante prevents it from dragging. programme of the Besançon concert contained The impassioned energy of the G flat Impromptu by LIP repertoire that Lipatti had recorded for Columbia a few Schubert is released by the sunny and glistening NU ATT months before but a live performance is always Impromptu in E flat which displays Lipatti’s flawlessly DI I different from a studio recording. The concert was even scale technique. The fourteen Chopin Waltzes are broadcast and it is this radio recording that is presented played in the order that Lipatti chose for performance here, although it would appear that the Bach encore but according to his wife, he was too physically weak to mentioned by his wife was not recorded. It is interesting play the last Waltz in A flat, Op. 34 No. 1, so it is to hear that Lipatti plays modulating passages between included here from his commercial recording of a few works, something that was far more common in the months before. The Waltzes are chaste and elegant, shot early twentieth century and sometimes heard in later through with nobility and a firm rhythmic foundation. years from Shura Cherkassky. The Bach Partita, which opens the programme, is often almost austere, but the © 2011 Jonathan Summers 8.111327 8.111346
19 s 50 Recording
Dinu Lipatti, Piano
8.111365 8.112049 8.111366 5 8.111366 3