Last Recital [Import]

Dinu Lipatti (Artist) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (May 20, 2000)
• SPARS Code: DDD
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Import
• Label: EMI Import
• ASIN: B000005GQP
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #426,572 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

1. I Prelude

2. II Allemande

3. III Courante

4. IV Sarabande

5. V Menuets I & II

6. VI Gigue

7. I Allegro Maestoso

8. II Andante Cantabile Con Espressione

9. III Presto

10. Impromptu In G Flat Major, D 899 No 3

11. Impromptu In E Flat Major, D. 899 No 2

12. No 5 In A Flat Major, Op. 42

13. No 6 In D Flat Major, Op. 64 No 1

14. No 9 In A Flat Major, Op. 69 No 1

15. No 7 In C Sharp Minor, Op. 64 No 2

16. No 11 In G Flat Major, Op. 70 No 1

17. No 10 In B Minor, Op. 69 No 2

18. No 14 In E Minor, Op. Posth.

19. No 3 In A Minor, Op. 34 No 2

20. No 4 In F Major, Op. 34 No 3

See all 24 tracks on this disc

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

21 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars In extremis, a transcendent performance, April 30, 2001

By 

"ringleadr" (Avery Island, LA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Last Recital (Audio CD)

My childhood piano teacher introduced me to this recording when I was thirteen, and a few years later I was able to buy the (then) 2-LP set for myself. Hearing this recording for the first time was one of the formative experiences of my life, and after nearly 40 years it remains the most treasured item in my collection. I am delighted to know that it has been re-issued on CD.

Dinu Lipatti was an artist of a profound spirituality stunningly summed up in this recording of his final recital, at the Besançon Music Festival in September 1950. The circumstances of that recital bear retelling. (Fellow reviewer Jeff Landess is not mistaken: he has the story right.) Mortally ill with leukemia and with less than three months left to live, Lipatti steadfastly refused to consider canceling, and by a Herculean effort of will made his way to the recital hall and to the piano. The resulting performance is transcendent music of the highest order. The only hint of weakness comes at the end, when, overcome by fatigue, Lipatti found himself unable to perform the last of the 14 Chopin waltzes, and instead substituted, by way of a musical prayer, Dame Myra Hess's transcription of Bach's "Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring" (which, though not included on the Besançon recording, has been beautifully captured elsewhere).

Lipatti's earlier, highly regarded recordings of the Bach B-flat Partita, the Mozart A Minor Sonata, and the Chopin Waltzes have remained in circulation ever since his death. But his final performances of these same works at Besançon, in my opinion, carry the listener to higher levels still. (The opening Praeludium of the Bach Partita from the Besançon recording was and remains an almost religious experience for me, and definitive.) Here is playing of the most refined sensibility by a pianist who even in extremis remained the composers' committed and generous servant.

There are certain live recordings justly celebrated as pianistic "performances of the century". There is no argument in my mind but that Dinu Lipatti's final recital at Besançon, now reissued on CD, ranks as one of these.

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars There Will Never Be Another Like Him, March 15, 2002

By 

William C. Metcalf (Ashtabula, Ohio USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Last Recital (Audio CD)

Everything has already been said about Lipatti's pianistic talent. This recording, is a must have along with his studio recordings. It rates up there with William Kapell's last recital performance of Chopin's 2nd Sonata ("Funeral March") which was performed live in Australia.

I have heard this recording on records and was baffled when I listened to the CD recording for the first time. On the record version, Lipatti improvises several times: before playing the Bach Partita, and before the Mozart. On this CD, I don't hear those improvisations, which I'm told were an old
tradition of some pianists (I was once told Rubenstein did this at a recital and the listener was left wondering what A.R. was doing!). Regardless of improvisational omissions, I HIGHLY reccomend this recording. It leaves me with regret that Lipatti didn't live longer to bring about more fruits of his musical abillity.

Did I mention that I LOVE this recording??

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This CD should be put into print, February 21, 2000

By 

jlsoaz (Arizona, USA) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Last Recital (Audio CD)

This CD appears to be unavailable. When I was younger I owned a tape of the album (my dad went out of his way to make certain he taped it for me). It is a mystery to me how such a wonderful live performance could be left out of print and difficult-to-find for so long. What is the label thinking?

Lipatti died early, in his thirties. If I am not mistaken, the story goes that this was one of his final performances. He was weakened by an illness which soon afterward took his life. His performance thus takes on a new meaning, and although he was physically weak he left us a reminder of the light that burned in him.

I don't know much about classical music compared to some of the other visitors, I am sure, but an attempt to define why I like the performance would include my personal love for Bach's Partita in B-Flat (#1, French Suite, I believe), as presented by a highly technically competent pianist who remains reserved in his interpretation while at the same time somehow giving me an opportunity to feel emotionally involved with the music. Can't explain it further than that.

Another aspect here is that I believe Lipatti had to cut short the Chopin Waltzes because of his weakened condition, and simply skipped to Jesu Joy of Man's Desiring.