I have often wondered about why the recordings that Lipatti made, and
that were issued on EMI, have such a poor quality.  I have heard older
recordings that sound clearer than these who were made in the years
1946-1950.  I am speaking especially of his recording of Chopin's waltzes
and of that recording of Bach, Scarlatti, Mozart and Schubert.  His Grieg
and Schumann piano concerti seem to sound better but in the two recordings
that I mentioned the piano sound is sometimes distorted.

So my question is:  why is this so? Were the recordings of poor quality
to begin with? Were they poorly maintained or transferred to CD? I had
for a while an LP of Lipatti playing the Chopin waltzes and it sounded
much clearer than the CD, I don't remember noticing any distortions in
that recording.  Unfortunately it was scratched badly and in time it
deteriorated to the point where I had to throw it so now I can't listen
to it for a comparison with the CD.

Laurentiu Cristofor