Customer Reviews

Chopin: Waltzes Nos. 1-14

5 star:		(16)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

The playing is immaculate: rythm, phrasing, transitioning, rubato, technique. Lipatti reveals the depth and melancholy of Chopin's waltzes, rather than their lightness (e.g. #14 in E minor, posthumous opus). Detail never comes in the way of seriousness here; try #3 in A minor, op.34 #2, or #7 in C sharp minor op.64 #2, to see how simplicity can amount to greatness. (This is not to say that Lipatti ignored detail; he was the quintessential perfectionist.) Note that he left two recordings of the waltzes. This is the studio one, which I find more satisfying. During his later recording, live at Besancon, Lipatti had to be carried off stage before the end of the program, so close he was to death.

I never thought that a set of Chopin's Waltzes could ever compete with the Rubinstein for me, but this one by Dinu Lipatti is exceptional. This was a man who truly loved this music and had the talent to show it. The sound is acceptable given the age of the recording, and the Barcarolle, Nocturne, and Mazurka are also very fine. I don't know why the Waltzes are presented out of order, but you can always program the CD player to play them in numbered sequence. This is music that you don't have to be in the mood for----hear it and you are in IT'S mood.

Yes, luminous is the word that describes Lipatti's recording of the Fourteen Waltzes best: "bright or shining, especially in the dark."

I bought this CD fourteen years ago, and since then I have not found an interpretation that even comes close to Lipatti's. His recording of Chopin's waltzes is worlds apart from those of all other pianists. No one else captured the terrifying and exhilarating coexistence of darkness and light in these ostensibly innocent pieces as convincingly as Lipatti.

Waltzes are dances of joy, very easy to learn and perform. Once very popular among all classes, their emotional range covered everything from the exuberant to the sentimental. Today, they have a reputation for either rustic fun or plain kitsch.

What Lipatti found in Chopin's waltzes goes far beyond the conventional. Played by him, these dances are testament to the pleasure to live in the face of suffering. Lipatti is the one pianist who can genuinely express both the joy of living and the awareness of mortality in as simple a piece of music as a waltz.

Playful, wise, sublime. Luminous. Listen!

I have to disagree about Rubinstein too. I did the A, B test and for nearly every waltz, I went for Lipatti. His playing is simply perfect. This is the best Chopin recording I have ever heard.

This is, note-for-note, about the greatest piano CD I've ever heard. He plays with so much freedom and groove, it's unbelievable.
Sometimes the only CD that can follow it is some Best of Art Tatum compilation. My favorite pianist is Thelonious Monk. My favorite piano composition is Beethoven Op.111. But this CD is outrageous.
Thanks to all you other reviewers for your much more Chopin-literate comments. I'll just say that anyone who loves the piano should own this.

These works are perhaps as difficult to play as Mozart because they require everything at once: instinct, sense of form, clarity, rigor, and natural phrasing. I am afraid other pianists can pretty much try niceties, smart secondary voices (Katsaris, Samson-Francois), flexible rythms that are quite effective in conveying the dance spirit of these works (Bunin) or remain safely in the artificial world of tricks and problem-solving (Barenboim playing a couple of them in concert or, horribly flat-footed, the otherwise excellent JB Pommier), but only one of them goes to the heart of this music and conveys what is essential about it with completely natural phrasing that makes it sing with dignity, beauty, clarity and absolute (and I mean absolute) digital perfection and this is Lipatti. If you get the CD with the Barcarolle, it is also the most impressive I know, alongside Moravec's.

I have to disagree about Rubinstein, much as I like his playing. It is simply no match for Lipatti's musicianship, especially in the Barcarolle. I've heard Rubinstein, Arrau, Horowitz, Cliburn, Ashkenazy, Pollini, Kissin and Zimerman play this work, and none of them could give me the feeling of ecstasy and luminosity that this work demands of. Rubinstein, like Arrau and the young Kissin, was rather mannered/affected in his interpretation, Horowitz was sadly past his prime with lots of wobble and wrong notes though he could still produce a lovely version, Cliburn was unfortunately pedestrian and harsh in sound, Ashkenazy as usual very safe in his interpretation, Pollini not quite sensitive enough, and Zimerman a little to heavy. And none of them had the immaculate sense of balance and control nor depth of vision that Lipatti manifested except Zimerman.

Having heard fawning comments about the Rumanian's perfection, as well as nasty ones about his reputation being "overblown" by an early death (as if it weren't the other way around), I decided to listen to the man himself.

After considering so many interpretations of Chopin's Waltzes, including that of Rubinstein and Ashkenazy, Lipatti's still remains in a class of its own. His interpretations are the most integrated, logical, and impressionistic, framed by swirls of pianistic colour (no wonder he was hailed by Poulenc in his French debut for "divine spirituality"!) that convey a breathtaking virtuosity. But his pieces are never "pious" or weighty -- nothing is overstated, and there is an element of charm and flamboyance (witness Waltz No. 13) in which he communicates refined emotion from a rich, tonal palette. A beautifully balanced and proportioned sense of structure permeates every piece.

It is difficult to categorize Lipatti. Overall, his style represents a perfect balance between the Classical restraint (Fischer, Schnabel) and Romantic sentiment (Moiseiwitsch, Horowitz) of his time.

Limpid, delicate, highly nuanced, lovely Chopin. One could not ask for a more sensitive interpretation. Lipatti was born with Chopin in his fingers and soul.

Lipatti's set is almost worth having exclusively for the legendary reputation it has acquired. As for the playing itself, there are a few eccentricities, like some almost disconcertingly fast speeds, some unusual rubato and less point than Rubinstein brought to his stereo traversal. Compare the way Lipatti and Rubinstein play the "grace note" middle section of the first Grande Valse Brilliant, for example, and you will agree that Rubinstein is elegant and civilized whereas Lipatti is an energetic colt, almost rushed. Rubinstein has the better recorded sound, too, but Lipatti's artistry is such that any eccentricities that he brings seem almost incidental. As the Penguin Guide says, this playing has so much subtlety and wisdom that to understand it all, one has to hear it many times. I have had this recording for eight years now and it is still revealing to me new ways of hearing this music.