Dinu Lipatti plays Chopin Sonata No. 3 in B Minor Op. 58

Dinu Lipatti’s March 1 and 4, 1947 recording of Chopin’s Sonata No. 3 in B Minor Op. 58, recorded at EMI’s Abbey Road Studio No. 3 on Steinway 299. 1. Allegro maestoso 0:00 2. Scherzo 8:49 3. Largo 11:22 4. Finale. Presto ma non tanto 20:15 This is the only large-scale solo composition that Lipatti recorded at EMI’s Abbey Road Studios in London, the rest being shorter works that fit on one or two sides of a single 78rpm disc. In the post-war period, due to material shortages even established artists (Cortot, Moiseiwitsch, Schnabel) were recording an average of one solo multi-disc work and a larger number of shorter works per year. This is most unfortunate as Lipatti had in his repertoire at the time Beethoven’s Waldstein Sonata, Schumann’s Etudes symphoniques, and Ravel’s Le tombeau de Couperin (he would play these three in a single recital together with four Bach Preludes & Fugues). This performance of Chopin’s Third Sonata captures Lipatti’s pianism at its most vibrant and dynamic. While he was already