The Berlin Concert

On the merit of the J.S. Bach French Suite BWV 816, it is a pity Ms. Dinnerstein seems unaware that there are some rules to this music and she should be well inspired to read Evgueny Teregulov's essay or/and she should simply enrol herself at the Gnessins Academy in Moscow where the legacy of prof. Alexandrov is alive and well. Her playing would benefit from this knowledge, sadly so slow to reach western students.

There, she would learn about rules of articulation in Bach's clavier music. In particular here are dying phrases and molto legatos, slowing downs, crescendos and diminuendos in a Romantic way that are simply going against the esthetics of baroque clavier music. This is particularly true in slow movements. Her fast movements are more convincing as they display a good pulsation, but sometimes too fast as tempi in baroque were never exagerrated.

There is much more than sighing in the French Suites as they belong to the Baroque esthetics and do not reflect the romantic "I" but a philosophical system of values, including according to Gnessins Academy Professor Vera Nosina's research, the physics of movement that was established around the same time.

Knowledge is key in understanding this music.

This is a beautiful recording, Simone Dinnerstein's renderings of the Bach French Suite and the Opus 111 of Beethoven are altogether perfect, with fine musical judgment and finesse. To point out just one track, the Gavotte of the French Suite was delightfully cheery, remaining adult while fleetly avoiding the trap of "cuteness". My only doubt in pre-ordering this CD was whether the contemporary Variations by Philip Lasser would stand up in such august company. I'm glad to report that the Lasser made me happy; it is musical and skillful in its echoes of Bach and impressionism both. I am pleased to have this recording join Dinnerstein's Goldberg Variations on my music shelf.

Barely more than six months after Simone Dinnerstein's triumphant debut at the Berlin Philharmonie - the modern concert hall which is the official residence of the Berliner Philharmoniker - Telarc has issued her sophomore recording, "The Berlin Concert", and one which is bound to please her ever growing legion of fans (of which I am now one). In a performance that is approximately an hour and fifteen minutes in length, Dinnerstein offers some fascinating insights into works composed across the span of three centuries by Johann Sebastian Bach, Ludwig van Beethoven, and contemporary American composer Philip Lasser, playing each as though they were being heard by the audience for the very first time. What unites these works by these three different composers is their joyful spontaneity and tendency towards almost jazz-like improvisation; Bach's French Suite No. 5 in G major, Lasser's Twelve Variations on a Chorale by J. S. Bach "Nimm von uns, Herr, du treuer Gott" (Cantata 101), and Beethoven's Piano Sonata No. 32 in C minor, Op. 111. In her performance of the Bach French Suite, Dinnerstein emphasizes - as she notes in the liner notes - its exquisite dance rhythms and spontaneity. In Lasser's work, her playing, while also sounding spontaneous, ranges from Bach's "contrapuntal energy" to brief nods to both French Impressionism and jazz too. As for jazz itself, Dinnerstein's performance of the final Beethoven piano sonata's second movement is light years removed from the elegant simplicity of, say, Alfred Brendel; hers is one which, unlike others I have heard either live or on recordings, truly emphasizes the improvisational, almost jazz-like, qualities of this very movement (Arietta: Adagio molto semplice e cantabile). It is still a quite compelling interpretation that holds its own against the likes of Brendel and Uchida, among others. A brief encore, Bach's Goldberg Variations: Variation 13, concludes this most remarkable recording. If anyone has doubted whether Simone Dinnerstein is a first-rate concert pianist, then this exhilarating live recording should dispel such doubts.