Dinu Lipatti

Remembering Dinu Lipatti

Dinu Lipatti is a unique figure in the pantheon of pianists. His international fame is due almost exclusively to the widespread distribution of recorded output that was in the words of his producer Walter Legge, “small in output but of the purest gold.” When Lipatti died of Hodgkin’s Lymphoma at the age of 33 in December 1950, he left behind little more than three and a half hours of recordings for EMI’s Columbia label. Since that time, those recordings have been published in the catalogue the world over and gradually supplemented by a handful of highly prized unpublished concert and broadcast performances. Six decades after Lipatti’s death, the search for more examples of his playing continues, and indeed more treasures are coming to light.

This site serves as an online tribute and resource to the pianist, featuring recordings, articles, photographs, and updates about releases, discoveries, and events.

If you have any information about memorabilia and private recordings relating to Lipatti, please contact us by using the contact page on this site.

News

New Dinu Lipatti recordings available!

After a long wait, some previously lost recordings of Dinu Lipatti are now available! A decade after these recordings were first located in the hands of a collector in Brooklyn, New York, these rare private discs of the great pianist are now available on the Marston Records label (click this link) This video gives audio […]

Silent Film Footage of Lipatti Discovered

I am delighted to share some news that is thrilling for Dinu Lipatti fans: The first known film footage of the great pianist has been located. Although he is not at the piano and there are only about 10 seconds of him in this silent film, it is tremendously exciting to see him ‘in action’, […]

Lipatti Centenary Reissues

Dinu Lipatti continues to be held in high esteem 100 years after his birth due to his recorded legacy. His handful of studio recordings – which his producer Walter Legge said was ‘small in number but of the purest gold’ – and the few concert and test recordings that have been issued since his premature […]

Articles

Schubert’s Impromptu in G-Flat Major

Today is the anniversary of Dinu Lipatti’s legendary final recital at the Besançon International Music Festival on September 16, 1950, so it seems a fine time to publish and discuss one of the pianist’s magnificent performances from that concert: the Schubert Impromptu in G-Flat Major D.899 No.3. EMI first issued Lipatti’s performance of the two […]

Liszt’s First Piano Concerto

Dinu Lipatti recorded only two piano concertos for EMI – the Grieg and Schumann Concertos, both in A Minor, and both mainstays of the repertoire. While the Grieg has its more virtuosic side, somehow Lipatti’s lyricism and musicality have overshadowed his more stunning technical feats in this performance, leaving pianophiles with the impression that he […]

Dinu Lipatti’s Final Essay – On Interpretation

Below is a draft from May 1950 of a presentation for an Interpretation Course to be held at the Conservatoire de Geneve. Lipatti had planned to give the course with Nadia Boulanger in the Spring of 1951. The text below was found in his papers after his death, and gives a good glimpse of his […]