Simone Dinnerstein - Bach - A Strange Beauty (2011)

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.