Dinu Lipatti plays Chopin Waltz No.2 in A-Flat Major, No.1 - 1947 recording

A September 24, 1947 recording of Dinu Lipatti performing Chopin’s second Waltz, the A-Flat Major No.1, from an EMI session at Abbey Road Studio No.3. Lipatti’s entire cycle of the Waltzes was recorded in 1950 at a small Radio Geneva studio, the limited acoustics of which restricted the dynamic and tonal range of his playing. This earlier performance was the ’filler’ for the last 78-rpm record side of the set featuring his Grieg Piano Concerto. The more expansive acoustic of the EMI studio coupled with the marvelous Steinway - and Lipatti’s vibrant health at the time - help pave the way for a more emotive, virtuosic reading than the later, more frequently issued recording. This 1947 version was rarely issued on LP and has seldom been on CD (EMI has never put it on CD), first appearing on APR and then on the Japanese label Opus Kura. The APR set was remastered in 2020, supplemented by Lipatti’s 1948 recordings and his 1947 test recordings with cellist Antonio Janigro.