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Dinu Lipatti’s compositions for winds may be the direct result of the influence of the French composition school, but Lipatti is no less connected to the spirituality of his home land and the Romanian ethos as advocated by Mihail Jora. A last moment commission (the manuscript itself says commande rapide), this short piece for solo flute is dedicated to Roger Cortet, one of the most talented flutists of his time, graduate of (1931) and professor at (1942-53) the Conservatoire Supérieur in Paris. Lipatti wrote it during one of his fertile periods. He had tried his hand at writing for winds in his 1938 unfinished Quintet, and the other contemporary compositions (Symphonie concertante for two Pianos and Strings, 1938, Suite for two Pianos, 1938, French nocturne in F-sharp minor, 1939, Concerto for Organ and Piano, 1939) reflect his main positions: folk-inspired sonorities blended with the refined, typically French colors and the insistent rhythms of Stravinsky. Lipatti’s music originates in the universe of the Romanian village (which, as an enthusiast photographer, he had more than once captured through the lens of his camera). The extensive introduction (surpassing in size the ensuing Allegro) progresses in a free, rubato, doina-like tempo, the flute reminiscent, with its expressive melody, of a shepherd’s whistle. The ornamented phrases are set a flexible rhythm and a free-form structure, as in an improvisation. The main theme of the Allegro is taken from the wedding ritual specific to the Vrancea region, collected by Henri Brauner in 1934 and which Lipatti probably picked up from his friend, ethnomusicologist Constantin Brăiloiu. Quoted in the opening bars, it undergoes several changes by means of melodic and rhythmic variation, is periodically brought back and, transformed and diminished, concludes the work. Text: Monica Isăcescu. Bucharest, September 2020.
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