Dinu Lipatti’s Last Recital: Besançon, September 16, 1950

A transfer of the legendary 2-LP set of the great Romanian pianist Dinu Lipatti’s final public concert appearance, at the third International Besançon Festival, on September 16, 1950. The pianist was extremely ill with Hodgkin’s Disease at the time, and came very close to cancelling the concert but insisted on playing. He was receiving injections in a room off the side of the stage between works and managed to get through most of the recital, but he was unable to play the last of the 14 Chopin Waltzes he had programmed. He died two and a half months later. After the first publication of the 2 Schubert Impromptus from this recital in a 5-disc Columbia set (FCX 491-495) issued in 1955 for the 5th anniversary of the pianist’s death, the recital was issued in the US on EMI’s Angel label (Angel 3556 B) and on French Columbia (33FCX 698-699) in early 1957. The international branches of EMI were reluctant to issue the live performance, which largely featured repertoire already recorded in the studio by Lipatti in better sound, but the set was so critically acclaimed – it was the cover feature of the 27 April 1957 issue of the Saturday Review magazine in the US – that it was soon after released internationally on EMI (33CX 1499-1500) and has been lauded as one of the most important classical recordings ever issued. Missing from the records was Lipatti’s failed attempt at beginning the last Waltz he had programmed and the Bach he played afterwards. It has now come to light that Lipatti may have played as many as three Bach encores: the Bach-Hess ‘Jesu, Joy of Man’s Desiring’, the Bach-Kempff ‘Siciliano’, and one of his own arrangements, likely the Malinconico from a Pastorale he had recently transcribed. Testimonials by surviving attendees of the concert as to the number of encores have been inconsistent, but a contemporary newspaper account speaks of three Bach encores. The recital was not transmitted live because of fears around Lipatti’s health so it is unclear if that part of the performance was ever broadcast and if a recording exists. There is surviving unissued audio from the recital that includes Lipatti’s exquisitely beautiful ‘preluding’ arpeggios to the Schubert and Chopin, which are not included on the records (for unknown reasons, given that the applause and preluding before the Bach and Mozart were released), as well as extra moments of applause and ambient noise. Unfortunately, most CD reissues of the recital have left out the preluding found on the LP and some applause. The performance as issued here is what was found on the original 1957 LP set. The program: Bach: Partita No.1 in B-Flat Major, BWV 825 Mozart: Piano Sonata No.8 in A Minor, K 310 Schubert: Two Impromptus - No.3 in G-Flat Major - No.2 in E-Flat Major Chopin: 13 Waltzes - No.5 in A-Flat Major - No.6 in D-Flat Major No.1 - No.9 in A Major No.1 - No.7 in C-Sharp Minor No.2 - in G-Flat No.1 - in B Minor No.2 - in E Minor - No.3 in A Minor No.2 - No.4 in F Major No.3 - in F Minor No.2 - in D-Flat Major No.3 - No.8 in A-Flat Major No.3 - No.1 in E-Flat It is worth noting that the order of the waltzes here is different than that of the commercial 78s and LPs, though both that version and this live performance are not in chronological order but another sequence of Lipatti’s choosing. The pianist stated that because Chopin’s Waltzes were not written as a set but rather over an extended period of time, when playing them together it made more sense to present them in a different order. The sequence on the commercial recording was most likely impacted by the length of the original 78rpm records, whereas there would have been no such constraints in this concert performance. The images shown in the video are: Bach - the concert program of Lipatti’s recital, as reproduced in the original LP set Mozart - a picture taken the morning of the recital as Lipatti rehearsed in the Salle de Parliament Schubert and Chopin - two images that local photographer Michel Meusy had taken of Lipatti during the course of the recital. Lipatti plays a Gaveau piano in this recital If you wish to support The Piano Files, please consider membership at my Patreon page: