Customer Reviews

Dinu Lipatti - Great Pianists of the 20th Century

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This is a stunning collection of piano's greatest magician, a legend even in his own short life-- he died of leukemia at age 33. His non-interventionist reading of Bach is still unparalleled and his way with Chopin has justly acquired legendary status. The Schubert Impromptus on CD2 were recorded at his last recital only a couple of months before he died. This is a must-have for any music lover.

The sensitivity and beauty of Dinu Lipatti's playing has for me, never been equalled. With flawless technique and extraordinary phrasing, he seemed to capture the core essence, the soul of the music. Born in 1917, he came from a musical family and his godfather was the composer George Enescu. A child prodigy, he started recording when he was 20, and the excerpts from the Brahms Waltzes, Op. 39 on disc 1, tracks # 10-17, are from that period, and he plays the original four-hand version, with his teacher Nadia Boulanger.
The rest of the selections on this stupendous compilation are from the years 1947 through 1950, the last being the Schubert Impromptus (disc 1, # 7-8), from a live recording of his final concert in September, at the Besancon Music Festival. One would never imagine, listening to these two beautiful pieces, that he was in excruciating pain from the leukemia that would take his life three months later.

The Schuman Concerto is given a spirited performance, with Herbert Von Karajan at the helm, and on the melodic Grieg Concerto, Alceo Galliera conducts. I marvel at Lipatti's interpretation of the Grieg Concerto, which sounds as though he is "breathing new life" into it, even though it was recorded over 55 years ago.
My favorite pieces are the Mozart Sonata in A minor, the Bach Partita in B flat, and the sublime Bach/Hess "Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring", which to quote from the multi-language liner notes is "Three minutes in musical paradise".
the total time on disc # 1 is 78'42, and disc # 2, 77'18.

Dinu Lipatti's entry in the Great Pianists of the 20th Century is a stunning example of a style of piano playing that one rarely hears any more. Despite whatever physical troubles Lipatti must have been having as the result of his illness, the primary emotion he conveys in his work is a sheer joy of playing the instrument. This is not necessarily piano playing for those who want to dwell on period performance technique or broad artistic interpretation. However, if clean and concise articulation, bravura when the music calls for it (such as in the Ravel and the Grieg), and poetry (the Chopin Etude is the most beautiful version of this piece I've ever heard), these discs will appeal to you. In his performance of "Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring," Lipatti recorded as beautiful an epithat as could be imagined

I agree with all of what Alejandra Vernon says in her customer review. But I note that she doesn't comment about the performance of the Chopin Third Piano Sonata. I had recently been comparing various recordings of this wonderful sonata, and kept coming back to Lipatti's version. The sound is not necessarily the best - although it's quite good for its time - and I had to boost the bass slightly. I like the warmth of Rubinstein, and the non-rhetorical ease of Anton Kuerti (on the Analekta label), but I keep coming back to Lipatti. His phrasing, his unhurried sense of the overall architecture, particularly in the slow movement which is spun out slowly and inexorably, are very convincing to me. Both my analytical mind and my unexamining heart are convinced by his playing.

I must also add that I love the Brahms Waltzes, played with Nadia Boulanger, at least partly because that legendary teacher recorded so very little. They sing the waltzes as with one voice.

And, finally, I treasure the 'Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring' in the famous arrangement by Dame Myra Hess. A desert island recording.

Highly recommended.

Scott Morrison

lipatti is unique in ways no other pianist is... his refined musical line brings an effortless lyricism to every piece he plays. superb technique made everything sound so easy

Lipatti is the greatest classical pianist I have ever heard; the level of PURITY and NON-SENTIMENTAL ROMANTIC TRANSCENDENCE is just AMAZING. He is the greatest interpreter of Chopin who ever lived, better than Horowitz even. Unfortunately the man suffered a tragic early death and his recordings are few.

I treasure everything on this Double CD set, except for the Schuman and the Grieg pieces, which I hate; but that's just my particular taste and reflects my inability to tolerate orchestral overemphasis interfering with Lipatti's sublime meditations.

Hey, the Grieg concerto is not that bad after all, it's just the Schumann. 1st, Personally I do not like that concerto very much, and second, Karajan is guilty of bogging Lipatti down with his heavy-handed conducting (This is not the first time i've heard Karajan do something like this. He bogged down Richter in the Tchaikovsky 1st concerto, released by DG.)But the Chopin B minor Sonata is truly up and up there among the greatest ever recorded, with Gilels(Great Pianists series), Moiseiwitsch(Pearl)(ok..this was not very accurate, but who cares?), Argerich (EMI The Legendary 1965 Chopin Recordings)and Sequeira Costa (VMF, Live in Bulgaria 1996). Highly recommended, except the Schumann