Mozart Sonata in A minor — Dinu Lipatti

Dinu Lipatti’s recording of Mozart’s Sonata in A minor at his last recital. He would pass away 3 months later from Hodgkin’s disease at 33.

I love the 3rd movement in particular (@11:34). It is full of both pain and joy, and Lipatti is able to create a fantastic sense of drama despite a more subdued tone due to his physical fatigue (He would later swap out Chopin Waltz in A flat with Bach’s Jesu, Joy of Man’s Desiring later in this recital because of his fatigue).

Also, I’d be remiss if I missed to point out the dark and heart-wrenchingly beautiful passage in the 2nd movement at @8:10.

“Lipatti, a master of the keyboard, would have developed into one of the supreme artists of this era. He was a pianist of the Rachmaninoff order, blessed with an enormous technique and a strong rhythmic sense.” — Harold Schonberg