Search - Dinu Lapatti :: Dinu Lipatti - Great Pianists of the 20th Century

Still impenetrable after all these years

10/03/1999

(5 out of 5 stars)

"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 Romanian master

Alejandra Vernon | Long Beach, California | 03/07/2003

(5 out of 5 stars)

"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."

They don't make them like this anymore

Jeffrey K. Lurie | Cleveland OH USA | 07/26/2001

(5 out of 5 stars)

"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"