His Recitals Reviewed
On the concert held at the Athenaeum on October 12, 1941, when Lipatti played the D minor concerto by Bach-Busoni,
Emanoil Ciomac wrote in Timpul (October 15, 1941):
“We were favoured with an interpreter who went deep in the heart of the matter, who knew how to rationally structure the work’s many levels and progressive developments, and who attended to its technical requirements with an extremely gifted natural mechanism. We believe it is to Bach’s style that Mr Lipatti is closer to, rather than to the one Beethoven or most Romantic composers call for...”
Universul literar hosted Romeo Alexandrescu’ thoughts
On the October 12, 1941 concert:
“Intent, attentive to the shape of each note, showing expressive self-recollection, rare artistic integrity and a skilful technical driving force dedicated to serving the music and not to showing off a purely mechanical velocity and to its consequent success: such features painted clearer than ever Dinu Lipatti’s class – Dinu Lipatti who, we are sure, will not stray away from the strictly musical and artistic path he has already carved out for himself in the Romanian piano world.”
In October 1941, the Bucharest Philharmonic and Dinu Lipatti toured Europe, playing in Bratislava, Vienna or Sofia Mozart’s Piano concerto no. 20 in D minor.
After observing Lipatti’s improvisation skills, Bulgarian conductor and violinist Sascha Popov noted:
“In my childhood and my youth I had heard great Busoni improvising, but believe me when I tell you he wasn’t nowhere near the level of this brilliant instance of Romanian art.”
Swiss conductor Paul Sacher wrote about Lipatti and stage fright
In Hommage à Dinu Lipatti (Labor et Fides: Geneva, 1952):
“Hours before the concert, he would put on his tail coat and, tense and unable to get a grip on himself, wander restlessly. He would often joke and say he was going to give up playing concerts for agriculture. But such restlessness would magically disappear as soon as he sat down on the piano bench, leaving in its place perfect control and attention.”
In February 1942, Lipatti played Handel, Scarlatti, Ravel, Liszt, Brahms and Chopin at the Romanian Athenaeum.
Emanoil Ciomac wrote in Timpul (February 16, 1942):
“It is the level of a refined, cultivated, and sagacious musician, as well as an exceptional virtuoso, which the pianist demonstrated; to our mind, his affinities lie most with the 20th-century and modern French music.”