Perfect Chopin waltzes
I try not to comment when there are this many reviews unless I feel I have something to add that hasn't already been pointed out. I know that I am extremely critical of pianists, especially when it comes to Chopin. So that readers understand my personal tastes and where I set the bar, Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli playing Chopin: recital, is by far my very favorite Chopin recording and I am most partial to Horowitz and Richter as pianists in general.

But a year ago, I discovered this CD after reading Amazon reviews and decided to try these waltzes since I didn't have the complete set in my classical library. From the first time I listened to Lipatti play these, I knew that there was a moment of magic captured in time when he recorded this (just as Michelangeli did with that one recording).

Perhaps one of the most difficult things to achieve, particularly with Chopin, is a balance between expression and technique. Reviewers often criticize one or the other; saying the pianist took too much liberty and over romanticized the piece or played it to technical perfection but made it too dry by leaving out expression. Having listened and even played some Chopin, I recognize how difficult it is to find this balance.

In my mind, Dinu Lipatti found the perfect balance in this recording. Every note is clear and present. He expresses enough emotion without making it schmaltzy. Hearing him play these waltzes makes me think that there was a lot more brilliance in him to contribute to piano music. It is a real loss and shame that he died so young with so few recordings.

No matter who you prefer to listen to playing Chopin, this recording is well worth owning even if it's not your favorite. Just to compare. I think I can safely say that at some points throughout these pieces while listening you will shake your head in utter dismay and say, "God! How does he do it?!"

I prefer musicality over technical brilliance
Listening to Lipatti is like watching a car race. He plays so fast, I can't really hear the music. He is technically brilliant - no doubt about it, but I don't hear any soul when I listen to him play these waltzes. When I listen to Rubinstein, I seldom notice his technique (which is also amazing) because I am so captivated by the music.

Breathtaking
These extraordinary recordings by Dinu Lipatti are widely regarded as the benchmark against which all other performances of Chopin's waltzes should be measured. Frankly, Lipatti is in a category all his own and these performances render any comparisons pointless.

Lipatti had such a supreme gift as a musician that listening to him play is a unique revelation every time. Even if Chopin is not your cup of tea, hearing this is like stumbling upon a box of priceless, shimmering jewels that never seem to fade. It is not far off the mark to assert, as Karajan did, that when hearing Lipatti play the piano, you do not hear the piano but you hear something close to music in its purest form.

The Barcorolle, Nocturne and Mazurka are played just as exquisitely.

If you are only going to buy one recording of Chopin's Waltzes, this is the one to go for by a million miles.

Beautifully organized structure
I am a latecomer to the works of Chopin, unqualified to comment on Dinu Lipatti's technique and interpretation, but this recording gives an interesting framework to explore the waltzes. They are numbered 1 through 14 in order of opus publication, but on this disc Lipatti shuffles them to form a cycle of his own devising. There are four waltzes in the key of A flat and it seems one challenge was to space them across the recital. Contrast this to Alexandre Thaurad's CD where he clumps like-key waltzes into groups. (He also adds five more posthumous works.)

Most of Chopin's waltzes start on the dominant, meaning either the fifth note of the home key (the tonic, the I), or a dominant seventh chord (V7) that leads to the tonic. Lipatti uses this feature to string together his cycle. If, for instance, there were a waltz that ended on a C natural it could easily bring us to Waltz No 4, which starts on an insistent C7 chord before rising to the home key of F major. I will use this as the starting point for tracing the harmonic relationships of the tracks on this disc.

Track 1: Waltz No 4 in F, "Grande Valse brillante" - as noted starts on the V7 and finishes on F in octaves.

Track 2: No 5 in A flat - begins on a trilling dominant Eb, but the note it trills up to is an F (which ended the previous track). Finishes with a parting shot, a turn in the bass ending on Ab.

Track 3: No 6 in D flat, "Minute Waltz" - starts on Ab; the contour of the opening phrase echoes the gesture of the previous parting shot as well. Ends in Db.

Track 4: No 9 in A flat - has two pickup notes then hits a Db on the downbeat of the first measure. The right hand ends on the Ab above middle C.

Track 5: No 7 in C sharp minor - starts on a G sharp above middle C, which is the same black key (enharmonic equivalent) of the previous Ab. Ends in C# minor.

Track 6: No 11 in G flat - starts with a pick-up turn then hits the downbeat with a Db (enharmonic C#). Ends on a Gb in the treble clef.

Track 7: No 10 in B minor - starts quietly on the same note, an F# (enharmonic Gb). Ends with a soft B in the bass clef.

Track 8: No 14 in E minor - first note is the exact same B in the bass. Ends in E minor.

Track 9: No 3 in A minor - starts on an E in the bass melody. Ends in A minor; keep in mind that the minor third of this key is a C natural -- you can hear it in the melody of the third to last measure.

Track 10: No 8 in A flat - this is a side-stepping change of keys, but there is an harmonic link to the previous waltz. Instead of starting on the dominant, this one begins on the major third -- C natural.

Track 11: No 12 in F minor - starts on the dominant -- C again. Toggle back and forth between tracks 10 and 11 and you will hear that these two waltzes start on the exact same pitch. Instead of ending in F minor this waltz closes in the relative major, Ab. The last three notes are a rise and fall: Bb-C-Ab.

Track 12: No 13 in D flat - there is a leading note before the dominant. The first three notes (Bb-Ab-F) fall and rise in a mirroring gesture to the final phrase of the previous. Ends quietly in Db.

Track 13: No 1 in E flat, "Valse brillante" - another side-stepping key change but there is a connection. If you toggle between tracks 12 and 13 you will hear the same initial note, a Bb -- quietly in the former, boldly here. Finishes resoundingly in the tonic Eb.

Track 14: No 2 in A flat, "Grande Valse brillante" - introduction in the dominant chord, Eb7. Closes in Ab. From here you could loop around to the beginning of the cycle again, linking the major third (C natural) to the V7 that starts the F major waltz.

Tragedy, Rediscovery, and Harmonized Proportion
Having heard fawning comments about the Rumanian's perfection, as well as nasty ones about his reputation being "overblown" by an early death (as if it weren't the other way around), I decided to listen to the man himself.

After considering so many interpretations of Chopin's Waltzes, including that of Rubinstein and Ashkenazy, Lipatti's still remains in a class of its own. His interpretations are the most integrated, logical, and impressionistic, framed by swirls of pianistic colour (no wonder he was hailed by Poulenc in his French debut for "divine spirituality"!) that convey a breathtaking virtuosity. But his pieces are never "pious" or weighty -- nothing is overstated, and there is an element of charm and flamboyance (witness Waltz No. 13) in which he communicates refined emotion from a rich, tonal palette. A beautifully balanced and proportioned sense of structure permeates every piece.

It is difficult to categorize Lipatti. Overall, his style represents a perfect balance between the Classical restraint (Fischer, Schnabel) and Romantic sentiment (Moiseiwitsch, Horowitz) of his time.