Dinu Lipatti (1917 – 1950) was a Romanian classical pianist and composer whose career was cut short by his death from Hodgkin's disease at age 33. He was elected posthumously to the Romanian Academy.
Lipatti was born in Bucharest into a musical family: his father was a violinist who had studied with Pablo de Sarasate and Carl Flesch, his mother a pianist. For his baptism, which occurred not shortly after birth as is usual, but when he was old enough to play the piano, the violinist and composer George Enescu agreed to be his godfather. Lipatti played a minuet by Mozart at his own baptism.
Dinu Lipatti's performance of Mozart's Sonata in A Minor, K310, at his last public recital, which took place at the Besancon International Music Festival on September 16, 1950. Included in this video are some photographs taken at the rehearsal in the Salle de Parlement that morning, as well as some pictures from the actual performance which were taken by Michel Meusy (who is at the time of this writing 102 years old). Also included is a previously unpublished picture of his hands which (along with all Besancon pictures) is featured in the upcoming documentary 'Le Recital de Besancon' on Sunless Films, directed by Philippe Roger.
Pulitzer Prize-winning music critic Harold C. Schonberg wrote of Lipatti's 1947–48 Chopin concert recordings: "this is piano-playing of a stature that few artists of his generation could have come near approaching".
We will have Dinu Lipatti pretty soon on the air on our midnight radio, playing Bach, Mozart, Scarlatti & Schubert, Chopin, Brahms, Ravel, Liszt, Enescu. For the moment enjoy this 14:32 min Mozart Sonata in A Minor with freshly brewed black coffee!
