Customer Reviews

Last Recital

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

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.

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??

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.

Dinu Lipatti was almost not of this world. His mentor, Walter Legge, the powerful, longtime head of Angel/EMI "adopted" him and treasured him. Lipatti's life was to be cut short by leukemia, arthritis, and other debilitating conditions. When the Second World War broke out, Lipatti and his wife were scurried to safety from Roumania, and lived in exile. In the meantime, Legge found concert venues for him to help him continue his music. Swiss Broadcasting air his recitals. But his commercial recorded legacy is very small, because the Swiss Broadcasting organization had to destroy the recording of their concerts after 6 months. (The only way some of these broadcasts survived is because Lipatti fans recorded them off the air for private use.)
The major contribution to his small recorded legacy is this recital in Besacon attended by family, a select group of friends, and, of course, Walter Legge with his EMI recording staff. In September 1950 (he died that December), Lipatti was given the news that his health was failing rapidly. Everything that could possibly be done had been. To help him sustain his strength,Legge and Lipatti's wife suggested this concert,and, as it was said that when Lipatti played, it was "the music of angels speaking through his body". It was reported that even during this recital, a doctor stood by to give him injections to relieve the constant pain he was suffering just from the arthritis.
The first time I heard the recital in its entirety, I became choked up. I also realized that music connoisseurs would be able to hear this genius through these recordings made under the supervision of Walter Legge. Yes, there are several missteps by Lipatti....after all, the recording was made "live" at Besacon. But listen to the breathlessly beautiful Chopin "Waltzes"! The piano somehow disappears and we are left with the gentle soul of a unique man through which music nurtured a true treasure.
I have collected Lipatti's recordings for years. If you're looking for today's brilliance of recording electronics, you won't experience the spirituality of Dinu Lipatti. And, if you have an opportunity to hear his recording of the Myra Hess's arrangement of Bach's "Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring", you will be offered a prayer.

One of my professors recommended this CD to me, and I think in all my life this is The Greatest Recommendation I have ever received. I'm sorry that I'm not such a connoisseur of piano music that I can't give a better review, Dinu deserves it, but I will do my best in letting you know my impressions as an amateur.

The very first time I heard this recording I thought it sounded like normal piano music coloured with a few wrong notes. The second time I heard it I realized the total lack of virtuosic pretension. I was quite pleased by this. Nowadays, unfortunately, it's all about virtuosity. As if we think there's nothing leftover if virtuosity is not prominent. Dinu is capable of such, there is no doubt, but he does not flaunt this nor does he make it a centerpiece. He plays from his heart, it sounds cheesy but it's really true. The third time I listened I heard Dinu's part in the music; I somehow heard that it belonged to him. After that I have heard various things, such as at some points his playing as if he's saying he's not ready to die, forceful, energetic, totally pushing pushing pushing. Then today I was hearing this iciness, a frozeness in some passages. Now I don't know if I'm reading too much into it, but this is truly what I think I'm hearing.

I recommend this CD wholeheartedly, and I guarantee you will listen to it more than 10 times. It is a prayerful performance, from the very soul of a dying man.

About 35 years ago a friend "introduced" me to Dinu Lipatti via this excellent recording. Of course in those days they were records, not CDs. Over the years I have worn out this 2-record set and am DELIGHTED to find that it is now available in the CD format. I am ordering one for myself and this will also be my gift of choice for any piano music loving friend I need to find a gift for. This will be the start of my Lipatti CDs to replace the old records. There are many fine recordings of the standard piano literature, but no collection is complete without the recordings made by Dinu Lipatti.

Alfred Cortot had three important pupils. Clara Haskill, Samson Francois and Dinu Lipatti.
Lipatti was undoubtly, a poetry. Remember that the term poetry comes from the greek poyesis that means creation. His apolinean playing was supported by an aristhocratic approach in every piece he preformed.
His brief existence like Kapell, Neveu, Cantelli and Rabin, was not an obstacle however, to understand why the world lost one truly keyboard genius.
This recital is one of the most important achievements in all the musical story. Lipatti went far beyond the legend.
Buy this CD and you'll feel after listening one painful statement. Actually just a elite of musicians performs in this mood. Something was missed in the craft interpretative.
A sign of decadence?