Before he died, Dinu Lipatti mapped out his proposed repertoire for the coming years. This information was only published in the booklet accompanying the memorial release of his Columbia recordings in a 5-disc set in 1955 and then on my previous website. The thought of Lipatti performing these works is tantalizing to say the least, and the unorthodox programming also gives great insight into his unique approach to music:
Summer 1950
Brahms – Concerto in B-Flat Major
Stravinsky – Capriccio [i]
Summer 1951
Recital No.7
Bach – Prelude and Fugue in A Minor
Haydn – Sonata in C Minor
Beethoven – Sonata in B-Flat Major, Op.106
Chopin – Sonata in B-Flat Minor, Op.35
Summer 1952
Beethoven – Concerto No.4 in G Major
Franck – Variations Symphoniques
Summer 1953
Recital No.8
Bach – Chromatic Fantasia and Fugue
Bartok – Suite Op.14
Beethoven – Sonata in D Minor Op.31 No.2
Brahms – Variations on a theme of Handel
Summer 1954
Tchaikovsky – Concerto in B-Flat Minor [ii]
Hindemith – Concerto [iii]
Summer 1955
Recital No.9
Bach – Italian Concerto
Stravinsky – Sonata
Liszt – Sonata
Debussy – 12 Preludes
Summer 1956
Chopin – Concerto in F Minor [iv]
Lipatti – Concerto [v]
Summer 1957
Recital No.10
Bach – Three Preludes and Fugues from the Well-Tempered Clavier
Chopin – 12 Etudes Op.10
Bach – Three other Preludes and Fugues
Chopin – 12 Etudes Op.25
[i] Lipatti had actually performed the Capriccio in the 1930s and was no doubt refreshing it here. It is interesting to note that a critic in Bucharest wrote that he found Lipatti’s style of playing more suited to the Capriccio than to the Mozart Concerto he played it with that night.
[ii] It is likely the fact that Lipatti planned to study the work in 1954 that led Walter Legge to say that Lipatti needed four years to prepare the work, though it is possible Lipatti might have said something along those lines as well. However, there is correspondence indicating that Lipatti had agreed to record the work with Karajan in 1949, but as Legge had already discussed recording the work with Malcuzynski, the project was nixed.
[iii] It is unclear if this is The Four Temperaments or if Hindemith was planning on writing a concerto for Lipatti. The two artists had performed together in Lucerne in 1947.
[iv] Walter Legge had written that he first heard Lipatti in a rehearsal for Chopin’s F Minor Concerto. In fact, he never played it and it must have been the E Minor Concerto.
[v] In a recorded interview with Henri Jaton on August 23, 1950, Lipatti stated that he hoped to write a piano concerto (starting at 3:50 in the presented audio clip)
