Dinu Lipatti - Last Recital, Besancon, 16.IX.1950 Main Performer or Conductor: Dinu Lipatti Instrumentation: Piano Individual Works: Bach: Partita No. 1 in B flat major Mozart: Sonata for Piano in A minor Schubert: Impromptu in G flat major Schubert: Impromptu in E flat major Chopin: Waltzs Format: Unspecified Record Label: EMI Catalog Number: 5 65166 2 Year Released/Recorded: 1950 Total Playing Time: 72'57" Comments: One of the most extraordinary recordings in the catalog. Lipatti, dying from leukaemia, ignored his doctor's advice and chose to honor his commitment to perform at Besancon. In a scene that wouldn't be believed in a motion picture, he turned in a performance that only barely betrayed his physical state. It was Bryce Morrison wrote in his notes: one of the great musical and human statements, a testimony to his transcendental powers, his almost frightening assertion of mind over matter." And, despite some unavoidable (but minor) defects in sound unsurprising in a 1950 performance recording, Last Recital is an incredibly rich and rewarding disk. Lipatti recorded a studio version of the Bach Partita in June of 1950 (with three Bach choral preludes, a sonata movement, and works by Scarlatti, Mozart and Schubert, it can be heard on EMI 7 69800 2). Both performances are wonderful. Lipatti was one of the giants. But the Besancon recording has a sense of immediacy that studio recordings rarely achieve Gustavo Mu±oz said: La exquisitez espiritual de Lipatti encuentra en la m*sica de Bach una vÝa perfecta para manifestarse. Y es en su *ltimo recital en la que el dolor (signo claro de ascetismo religioso) y arte copulan para engendrar la maravilla grabada en este disco. The supperb spiritual condition of the Lipatti's soul founds a perfect via to be manifested by Bach music. Here, in his last recital, is where pain and art copulate in inder to give life the fulliness recorded in this CD. Acknowledgements: Thank you to the following for submitting this recording and for your comments: Stu Cohen Gustavo Mu±oz Date First Submitted: 04/10/1996 Purchasing: Suggested Purchasing Sources Note: Inclusion in this database does not guarantee the availability of any recording. Some recordings may be out-of-print or no longer available.