This CD marks the first time that the original radio tape was remastered since the first appearance of the recording on LP in 1957: the sound is so incredible that you can recognize what previously sounded like just noise as the pianist's footsteps approaching the piano (there was a microphone on the floor under the instrument).
Additionally, all of the radio announcements, applause, and warm-up arpeggios are also released for the first time: Lipatti's 'preluding' before the Schubert and Chopin parts of the program have never been released before, and they are extremely beautiful.
Also included is a section previously missing from the Schubert G-Flat Impromptu when a wrong note was edited out of the broadcast, thereby requiring the first commercial release to edit in the correct note. Now we can finally hear how Lipatti played the entire work on this momentous occasion.
Unfortunately Lipatti's encore(s) have not been found, as the 50-page booklet with a 3600-word text (presented in French and English) by Lipatti researcher Mark Ainley explains. This text covers in great detail the concert itself, the broadcast and release of the recording in the 1950s, and the hunt for missing portions of the recital. The booklet also includes some unpublished photographs taken during the actual recital itself, as well as of the rehearsal and of Lipatti at various times in his life.
