
Icon: Dinu Lipatti
To mark the forthcoming publication by Actes Sud of André Tubeuf’s new book on the Romanian pianist Dinu Lipatti, La quatorzième valse (The Fourteenth Waltz), EMI Classics is re-releasing all the recordings by this artist of genius in a single 7CD box, each one freshly and sympathetically re-mastered using 24-bit technology. Falling victim to leukaemia at an early age and at the height of his powers, Dinu Lipatti naturally left behind only a small discography, but one of truly exceptional diversity and quality, and this collection is rounded off by his famous last recital, at Besançon in September 1950. This recital, which he halted after thirteen waltzes (hence the title of André Tubeuf’s book), having completely exhausted his ailing body, has become legendary, a last, powerfully moving expression of a life cut short in its prime barely three months later.