How did the idea of conferring two special awards at the MIDEM ceremony appear, now, during the Chopin Year, and why did you choose Dinu Lipatti's and Nikolai Demidenko's recordings, respectively?

It all started from the idea of the Chopin Institute in Warsaw. To celebrate 200 years since the composer was born, the Institute, in partnership with the jury at MIDEM, wanted to offer awards for the most important recordings from Chopin. There were two categories: 'best recordings of all times' (at which Dinu Lipatti's recordings were the most important), and 'best recent recordings', which was awarded to Nikolai Demidenko'swork. It was an extraordinary initiative for a special event like this. It is the first time when the jury of the MIDEM Awards takes into account such a category.


Were you one of the supporters of Dinu Lipatti's recordings?

Yes. I must say that it is extremely difficult to choose between recent recordings - the same happens with historical ones - and to offer an award only to one of them. The Committee of the MIDEM Awards has chosen ten recordings, the ones of Dinu Lipatti, Arthur Rubinstein, Maurizio Pollini, Martha Argerich among them, and we had to make a decision upon all these. Undoubtedly, Dinu Lipatti's are the most spectacular ones in the entire history of the record and it is absolutely natural that they should be awarded during the Chopin Awards gala.


If you were to draw a personal top of the best Chopin recordings of all times, who would be the three top performers?

It is really very difficult. I think Dinu Lipatti, Arthur Rubinstein and Martha Argerich, for sure. This is my personal top.


This year's winners' list includes Sergiu Celibidache, another great Romanian musician, as the main subject of a documentary realized by German director Jan Schmidt Garre. Which was the jury's motivation for conferring this award?

This is a common category, because the MIDEM Awards also reward the best DVD recordings, while this documentary about Celibidache is truly extraordinary, as he is a real exceptional personality of the classical music, a 20th century monument. The documentary shows the interpretation process of the conductor. And this is the reason why it was worth the award for 'Best DVD documentary'.

Interview by: Monica Isacescu
Translated by Sînziana Mihalache
MA Student, MTTLC, Bucharest University