Bach, Mozart, Scarlatti, Schubert

It's easy to hear why these timeless recordings have virtually never been out of the catalog since Dinu Lipatti's untimely death in 1950 at age 33. Each movement of the Bach B-flat Partita is painstakingly detailed without sounding the least bit studied, unfolding with logic, eloquence, and a cogent sense of dance. The two Bach-Busoni chorale preludes are sculpted in long, singing lines. Then there's the effortless textural juggling Lipatti achieves to moving, spiritual effect in the Bach-Kempff Siciliano and renowned Bach-Hess "Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring." By all accounts, Lipatti labored many hours perfecting the trills and various ornaments in the two Scarlatti sonatas, and it shows. The pianist's intense, impassioned Mozart A Minor Sonata reveals endless felicities of phrasing and touch with each relistening. Lastly, the two Schubert Impromptus, recorded at Lipatti's last recital, shimmer with concentrated, poetic refinement and serene joy that belie the fact that the pianist was mortally ill. Let's hope these cornerstone performances will be available for another 50 years at least. --Jed Distler