Bach - A Strange Beauty Simone Dinnerstein

All Music Guide

Following the success of her recordings of J.S. Bach's "Goldberg Variations" and The Berlin Concert for Telarc, Simone Dinnerstein switched to Sony for her 2011 album, Bach: A Strange Beauty, which presents a mix of Bach's keyboard works performed on piano, including transcriptions by Ferruccio Busoni, Wilhelm Kempff, and Myra Hess. Lest there be any confusion, Dinnerstein's performances are not aimed at the Baroque purist who would prefer in the first place to hear this music played on harpsichord in period style and would reject the modern arrangements out of hand. Rather, she appeals to a mainstream audience that accepts modernizing Bach and enjoys hearing the full sonorities of a piano. Once past this stylistic hurdle, Dinnerstein offers three chorales that reflect the taste of a bygone age, when the Lisztian idea to dress Bach's counterpoint in pianistic textures dominated. Busoni's thickened version of "Ich ruf zu dir, Herr Jesu Christ"; Kempff's robust take on "Nun freut euch, lieben Christen gmein"; and Hess' substantial bolstering of "Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring" provide opportunities to make the piano reverberate with rich sonorities, but take away the essentially modest and sacred character of Bach's originals. In the "Concerto No. 1 in D minor" and the "Concerto No. 5 in F minor," Dinnerstein is joined by the Kammerorchester Staatskapelle Berlin, and the performances are acceptably polished and accurate, if somewhat lacking in intimacy and individuality. Dinnerstein is at her best without modern adaptations or an orchestra, but by herself. As she demonstrates in the "English Suite No. 3 in G minor," it is enough to play the notes as written, letting her expression and technique take care of themselves and trusting Bach's music to convince and move the listener. Here, her personality and skills are shown to their best advantage. Sony's audio reproduction is first-rate, but there is a somewhat boosted bass in the concertos. ~ Blair Sanderson, Rovi

San Francisco Chronicle

Magnificent.... Dinnerstein brings out the luminous, off-kilter splendor of this music in a way that is both fearless and sly.... The effect is like a conversation with someone who sits too close and fixes you with an unblinking stare, while revealing truths you'd never suspected; it's unnerving and mesmerizing all at once. Joshua Kosman

The Independent

The stately calm of the 5th Keyboard Concerto's "Largo" has an almost weightless poise, while the English Suite No 3 offers an engrossing journey between styles, from the reflective "Allemande" to the agitated "Courante" and the melancholy "Sarabande". Andy Gill

National Public Radio

What's striking about Dinnerstein is that she plays Bach as if she's never heard it before. From the first ponderous low notes of the chorale arrangement that opens the album, she compels the listener to follow her in a journey of discovery filled with unscheduled detours. Throughout Bach: A Strange Beauty, she often stretches out a particularly rich cadence or luxuriates in the multi-voiced texture of the chorales. She's actively listening to every note she plays, and the result is a wonderfully expressive interpretation. Ashalen Sims