Bach: Goldberg Variations

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About Bach: Goldberg Variations

Amazon.com This is destined to be one of the best-remembered and significant classical releases of 2007. Simone (pronounced "See-mo-nuh") Dinnerstein has recently been attracting lots of media attention, from Oprah’s magazine to The New York Times. Within a classical-music circuit increasingly unwilling to take artistic risks, hers has been the rare success story. The 30-something pianist (a former student of Peter Serkin), backing herself, wowed critics with some notable concerts and eventually secured the support of a major label to release a self-produced recording Dinnerstein had made in March 2005. This Telarc account of the Goldberg Variations thus marks her solo debut CD (following some earlier collaborations with cellist Zuill Bailey on the Delos label). For once, the publicity is trying to keep up with the musical achievement--rather than the other way around. Dinnerstein's seriousness of purpose is immediately obvious from her choice of the Bach masterpiece to make her mark. With the specter of Glenn Gould's own epoch-making 1955 debut playing the same work—not to mention a vast catalog of competing interpretations—Dinnerstein is nothing if not bold. But what's really extraordinary here is the liberating sense she conveys of its not having all been said before—without resorting to tiresome idiosyncrasies to stand apart from the crowd. Her remarkably deliberate way with the opening aria is unusual, to be sure. But it establishes the stakes for what will follow, where Dinnerstein's thoughtfulness and spectacular clarity seem to discover new facets at every turn. Her pianism embraces a prismatic array of touches, whether the feathery lightness of Variation 5, the burbling rhythms of Variation 14, or the tragic weight of the "black pearl" Variation 25. The cumulative effect is exhilarating, intensely moving, and an affirmation of the Goldbergs' infinite variety. --Thomas May Product Description Dinnerstein's Goldberg Variations was recorded in the neoclassic auditorium of the Academy of Arts and Letters in New York in March 2005. The piano she plays, a 1903 Hamburg Steinway model D concert grand, was originally owned by the town council of Hull, in Northeast England. During World War II, Hull was extensively bombed and the town hall in which the piano was housed was severely damaged. The piano, however, survived intact and was used in a series of concerts after the war to restore Hull's spirit. In 2002, it was restored by Klavierhaus in New York City, in time to be used at the re-opening of the World Trade Center's Winter Garden, playing the same role as it had in Hull over fifty years earlier. Review "a thoughtfully conceived, thoroughly modern performance that seemed to take into account the development of Western art music since Bach ... there was something in the slight pauses she took between repeated sections, or between halves of variations, and something in her pacing of the set as a whole, that so completely evoked the image of a journey that Schubert's Winterreise kept coming to mind." -- The New York Times "...an elegant and assured recording..." -- The New Yorker, August 2007 "Her [Dinnerstein's] conception is unashamedly pianistic (rather than harpsichord-influenced) but always containing her considerable sense of invention within tasteful (but not tidy or conservative) bounds. The performance's sense of tension and release is such that you can almost do breathing exercises to some of the variations. 4 Stars" -- Philadelphia Inquirer "If you only have 1 hour, 18 minutes: Listen to pianist Simone Dinnerstein's recording of Bach's Goldberg Variations (Telarc), a timeless, meditative, utterly audacious solo debut." -- O Magazine "a thrilling roller coaster ride with many wonderful surprises in store... her harmonic intensity left an indelible impression on this mesmerized listener." -- American Record Guide Simone Dinnerstein is a pupil of Peter Serkin and M. Curcio, and has received a notable series