On January 26th 2010 during the ceremony hosted by The Palace of the Festivals in Cannes, Dinu Lipatti's recordings were awarded with the Special Prize MIDEM, at the Best Ever section, due to the celebration of the 'Chopin Year', as a professional jury considered them to be the best Chopin musical plays recordings of all times. Another prize, which is deeply connected with another great Romanian artist, Sergiu Celibidache, which is awarded for documentaries on DVD support, went to the movie Sergiu Celibidache - You Don't Do Anything - You Let It Evolve directed by the German director Jan Schmidt - Garre, who was one of the famous orchestra conductor's student. Being there, we had the opportunity to talk with Mr. James Jolly, editor-in-chief at The Gramophone Magazine.


As a member of the MIDEM jury, what is your opinion regarding the fact that the Special Prize was awarded to Dinu Lipatti's recordings this year? Did you agree, or not, with this?

Yes, definitely yes. I do not know if I am allowed to reveal the fact that, from among Chopin's amazing recordings of all the times, Dinu Lipatti was my first choice from the beginning. We awarded two prizes: one for the new recordings, and the other for the old ones. It was not so difficult for me to make a decision. It is indeed a classical recording.


Which were the reasons the jury had for making this choice?

We celebrate 200 years since Chopin's birth and we wanted to take advantage of this opportunity. Lipatti's music is real magic. Even if you take into consideration that he was seriously ill, and he was about to leave our world in a short period of time, his piano interpretation still remains astonishing: a mixture between music, poetry, power and complete faith in his music. Listening to him, time perception vanishes and a new interaction and communication with Chopin's music is born. Being such extraordinary recordings they have preserved and strengthened their value and fame within all those years, so we may say that they remain an outstanding landmark for piano performance.


Which were the recordings also taken into consideration for this prize? Were Arthur Rubinstein, Vladimir Ashkenazy, or Maurizio Pollini competitors against the Romanian piano player?

They were indeed on the list. There is a rich collection of Chopin's plays. Rubinstein is obviously considered the piano player who can be identified with Chopin's music, like no other. In conclusion there are valuable recordings on the short list for Chopin's music. But it was simply impossible for us to avoid choosing Dinu Lipatti's recordings for the first place, as they are absolutely fantastic.


In The Gramophone Magazine Dinu Lipatti's CD with Chopin's plays were presented as a collection of delights for the soul, because each one is played with instinct, grace and poetry. If we refer to technique, touch, musical phrasing, legato and intellectual consciousness, which is the feature that characterizes him better?

I really believe it is a complete piano artistry. Technically it is faultless, it has the sense of poetry, sadness and miracle. Of course, you can perceive the wit behind music, but this is not just an intellectual interpretation, but also a wonderfully sincere and extraordinary sensitive one. He is not old-fashioned at all, that is why Lipatti' s recordings remain some of the best of all times.


Having a lot of things in common, it is extremely easy to draw a parallelism between Chopin's and Lipatti's destinies. Which could be the congruent points between these two great musicians from an artistically point of view?

Chopin composed almost exclusively musical plays for the piano, and this makes him known as the piano player's composer. On the other hand, Dinu Lipatti is, somehow, recognized as the king of the piano players, the one who mastered the core, the essence of music. There are a few such artists. It is obvious that neither Chopin, nor Lipatti had a long life, but I do not know if this is something relevant. But, both of them had something royal in their nature, and they were highly dedicated to their music. They really belong to the rare gifted artists who reached perfection and proved their stunning art.


Do you believe that Lipatti's work cannot be truly listened to because of the precarious quality of the recordings?

Yes, it may be so. We should not forget that they were recorded 60 years ago. But if you really want to listen to his musical legacy, you have to go beyond technical imperfection, such as that whiz, and the network hum of his recordings, because such problems are out of importance. Lipatti's art is beyond such imperfections.


In the same time, at the Documentary DVD section, this edition of MIDEM Prizes honors the director Jan Schmidt Garre's movie: Sergiu Celibidache - You don 't do anything - You let it evolve . We have not yet had the chance to see this movie in Romania, and we would like to find out from you what does it bring new?

It is an extremely inspired movie. Celibidache was one of the greatest orchestra conductor, but rebellious against recordings and not willing to talk. The movie reveals an incredible look from the insight upon his conducting art. He was not an unique conductor, and he had that temper characterized by idiosyncrasy. But, his concerts were often remarkable, offering amazing interpretations and resulting into absolutely unique and intense performances. His rehearsals meant an important part of the equation. This movie discloses Celibidache's personal way of expressing the fact that rehearsals could be very noxious: telling people how not to do, or what not to do. It is an excellent documentary and it offers a profound image of one of the most important conductors of the 20th century.

Interview by: Monica Isacescu
Translated by Alinda -Gabriela Ivanov (Gutu) and Valentina Tache
MA Students, MTTLC, Bucharest University