Dinu Lipatti (March 19, 1917, Bucharest – December 2, 1950, Geneva) was a R… Read Full Bio ↴Dinu Lipatti (March 19, 1917, Bucharest – December 2, 1950, Geneva) was a Romanian classical pianist and composer whose career was tragically cut short by his death from Hodgkin's disease at age 33. Despite his short career and a relatively small recorded legacy, Lipatti is considered as one of the finest pianists of the 20th century.
Lipatti was born in Bucharest into a musical family: his father was a violinist, his mother a pianist, and his godfather was the violinist and composer George Enescu. He studied at the Gheorghe Lazăr High School, and finished second at the 1934 Vienna International Piano Competition, which led to Alfred Cortot, who thought he should have won, resigning from the jury in protest. Lipatti subsequently studied in Paris under Cortot, Nadia Boulanger (with whom he recorded some of Johannes Brahms Waltzes Op. 39), Paul Dukas (composition) and Charles Münch (conducting).
Lipatti's career was interrupted by World War II. Although he continued to give concerts throughout Europe, including Nazi-occupied territories, he eventually fled his native Romania in 1943 and settled with his wife in Geneva, Switzerland, where he accepted the position as piano professor at the conservatory. It was at this time that the first signs of his illness emerged. At first, doctors were baffled, but in 1947 he was diagnosed with Hodgkin's Disease. As a result, his concertizing receded considerably after the war.
Lipatti gave his final recital, which was recorded, on 16 September 1950 in Besançon. Despite severe illness, he gave unmatched performances of Bach’s B flat major Partita, Mozart’s A minor Sonata, Schubert's G flat major and E flat major Impromptus, and thirteen of Chopin's 14 Waltzes. He excluded No. 2, which he was too exhausted to play; he offered instead Myra Hess’s transcription of Bach’s Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring. He died less than 3 months later.
Lipatti is buried at the cemetery of Chêne-Bourg next to his wife Madeleine, a noted piano teacher.
Lipatti was born in Bucharest into a musical family: his father was a violinist, his mother a pianist, and his godfather was the violinist and composer George Enescu. He studied at the Gheorghe Lazăr High School, and finished second at the 1934 Vienna International Piano Competition, which led to Alfred Cortot, who thought he should have won, resigning from the jury in protest. Lipatti subsequently studied in Paris under Cortot, Nadia Boulanger (with whom he recorded some of Johannes Brahms Waltzes Op. 39), Paul Dukas (composition) and Charles Münch (conducting).
Lipatti's career was interrupted by World War II. Although he continued to give concerts throughout Europe, including Nazi-occupied territories, he eventually fled his native Romania in 1943 and settled with his wife in Geneva, Switzerland, where he accepted the position as piano professor at the conservatory. It was at this time that the first signs of his illness emerged. At first, doctors were baffled, but in 1947 he was diagnosed with Hodgkin's Disease. As a result, his concertizing receded considerably after the war.
Lipatti gave his final recital, which was recorded, on 16 September 1950 in Besançon. Despite severe illness, he gave unmatched performances of Bach’s B flat major Partita, Mozart’s A minor Sonata, Schubert's G flat major and E flat major Impromptus, and thirteen of Chopin's 14 Waltzes. He excluded No. 2, which he was too exhausted to play; he offered instead Myra Hess’s transcription of Bach’s Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring. He died less than 3 months later.
Lipatti is buried at the cemetery of Chêne-Bourg next to his wife Madeleine, a noted piano teacher.
Alborada del gracioso
Dinu Lipatti Lyrics
We have lyrics for 'Alborada del gracioso' by these artists:
Maurice Ravel Quizá esta vez logres comprender La razón por la que hice…
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inraid
@Victor Mongescu If you really believe Lipatti was
"the most brilliant pianist to have ever walked the Earth"
you had your ears cut off and your brains fucked by the
Romanian Communist propaganda. Lipatti's Alborada is
completely mechanical and humorless. One hears the
beats, the bars and the metronome in every note. It
doesn't breathe, it doesn't smile, it doesn't joke, there
is no color or texture. It sounds completely mechanical
and pre-planned with no playfulness or improvisation.
Lipatti has been glorified and sanctified largely because
of his tragic death at a young age. Had he lived longer it
would have become clear he was nothing more than a
robot like Pollini. You should go listen to some really
great pianists for a change -- Richter, Sofronitsky,
Cziffra, Weissenberg.
genop1770
I have this recording and admired it, but not until did I compare Richter's performance of it to Lipatti's did realize how technically brilliant Lipatti's playing is. Lipatti has been one of my favorite pianists for a while, but mainly because of his artistry and nuance. I almost didn't realize that his technique displayed here, out classes Horowitz.
Mad Anthony America
i bought, by chance, a lipatti vinyl album back in high school. i knew right away i was in the presence of the sublime. that album has gone everywhere with me, from new york to paris to geneva to belgrade to los angeles, to everywhere. this feeling of being privileged to hear him has never changed and i am so glad to see the world does not, and never will, forget this man. we are all lucky to have lived in a time when we can hear his recordings. god took pity on us and gave us great art.
Carl Figueiredo
I couldn't agree with you more! Exactly the same with me. How wonderful that it was recorded!
Paul Lanfear
This has to be among the very greatest piano recordings ever made.
ClearlyAnArtistAnimations
Eh, too fast.
Caroline Wallis-Newport
The best playing of this fantastic piece ever - repeated notes unsurpassed by anyone. Staggering.
Caroline Wallis-Newport
@Jason Southwick I just did. Technically faultless, I liked his style very much. Thank you for introducing him!
Jason Southwick
Check out Bertrand Chamayou, finally an equal
Lan Cao
extraordinary!!! very fast, expressive but very precise also. Wow, the best double glissandi i've ever heard, with crescendo and diminuendo, which is god damn hard to do with the double glissandi. He alone sounds like an orchestra.
saltburner2
Stephen Hough has described this as the most perfect five minutes of pianism ever committed to disc.