DINU LIPATTI

The Last Recital

Besançon, 16th September 1950

Johann Sebastian BACH:

Partita No. 1 in B flat minor, BWV 825

Wolfgang Amadeus MOZART:

Sonata No. 8 in A minor, K. 310

Franz SCHUBERT:

Impromptus, Op. 90, D. 899 (No. 3 in G flat major; No. 2 in E flat major)

Fryderyk CHOPIN:

Waltzes No. 5 in A flat major, Op. 42

No. 6 in D flat major, Op. 64, No. 1

No. 9 in A flat major, Op. 69, No. 1

No. 7 in C sharp minor, Op. 64, No. 2

No. 11 in G flat major, Op. 70, No. 1

No. 10 in B minor, Op. 69, No. 2

No. 14 in E minor, Op. posth.

No. 3 in A minor, Op. 34, No. 2

No. 4 in F major, Op. 34, No. 3’

No. 12 in F minor, Op. 70, No. 2

No. 13 in D flat major, Op. 70, No. 3

No. 8 in A flat major, Op. 64, No. 3

No. 1 in E flat major, Op. 18

Recorded in the Salle du Parlement, Palais de Justice, Besançon, France, on 16th September 1950

Reissue Producer and Audio Restoration Engineer: Mark Obert-Thorn

It is not surprising that Lipatti achieved cult status in the years following his death at the age of 33. He was an extremely sensitive musician and a man whose approach to the piano was one of utter fastidiousness, always striving for perfection in every aspect of his interpretation and performance. Throughout this Besançon recital there is a clarity of sound, evenness of attack and scrupulous attention to gradation of dynamics, characteristic hallmarks of Lipatti’s playing. The fourteen Chopin Waltzes are played in the order that Lipatti chose for performance but, according to his wife, he was too physically weak to play the last Waltz in A flat, Op. 34 No. 1, so it is included here from his commercial recording of a few months before.

Naxos 8111366