It would be easy with this disc, the debut solo album from American pianist Simone Dinnerstein, to be distracted by all the publicity surrounding it. It would be a shame, since it's a recording of the Goldberg Variations of real accomplishment with some flashes of interpretative brilliance.
I think the most complicated and, if one's honest, irrelevant gimmick is the story of the 1902 Steinway which is used for the recording (especially since it is only rarely distinguishable from a modern Steinway – there's the occasional hint of acid in its sound and maybe a slightly more mellow tone). The instrument came originally from Hull Town Hall. During World War II it remained standing proud in the ashes after the building was bombed and was consequently used in morale-boosting concerts in the town. As Dinnerstein says in her booklet note, 'in 2002 it was restored by Klavierhaus in New York City, in time to be used at the reopening of the World Trade Center's Winter Garden, playing the same role as it had in Hull over fifty years ago.' In a rather cheap bit of emotionalist marketing, then, we are supposed to associate this disc with the events of not only the Second World War but also with 9/11. This is emphasised by the booklet photography: two centre-spreads of the Manhattan Bridge; one with Dinnerstein, one without.
In addition to this, the press release tells us that Dinnerstein 'self-produced' her Carnegie Hall debut and one can't help but feel a touch of dread at those words: is this a pianist with more money than talent? Given the way in which her story has caught the American public's imagination, it's tempting to think that it's just another case of a mediocre if photogenic artist being well packaged and publicised. It says something then for the quality of Dinnerstein's playing that she manages to blast away these preconceptions; she is without doubt a pianist of real talent and integrity.
Initially I worried slightly that after an opening Aria in which time almost stands still, such is its meditative feel, that there was going to be a tendency towards narcissism and naval-gazing. Despite some playful pinging of the bass notes in Variation I, Variations II and III are almost made to sound like extensions of the Aria. Things pick up in the Fourth Variation and it also starts to become clear that Dinnerstein, as well as having an undoubted knack for playing with rapt stillness, has a very clean way with the faster passagework and no lack of virtuosity. So if Variation V is again a little slower than one might be used to, the way she punctuates the bass line is once more a pleasure, as is her beautifully measured way with the gentle dance of Variation VII.
The same virtues are there throughout the whole disc and if Variations XI and XII again tend towards gentleness, the explosive ornaments and rapier interjections of Variation XIV are a revelation, as well as an impressive display of voicing and control. Variation XVII, taken faster than normal, is played with delightful fluency and Variations XXIII and XXIV are again distinguished by some wonderfully light passagework and ornaments, while the virtuosity of Variation XXVI is all the more impressive for the way that she plays it all sotto voce.
She's not afraid to pull the tempo around a little and this is without doubt a pianist's recording, with few or no concessions to the period instrument movement. I can't see this recording topping the list of standard recommendations, but since it's always going to be impossible to live with one version of the Goldberg Variations, it's good to be able to report that Dinnerstein's recording, far from being the exercise in vanity that a cynic might suspect it of being, is a very valid and individual addition to the catalogue. It is extremely well played, interestingly unpredictable and beautifully recorded.
So initial cynicism has, in my case, melted into admiration for the pianist who, having shied away from a high profile career for a decade, plucked up the courage and took the plunge (and no doubt financial risk) of producing her own concert in New York's most famous concert hall. She's due to appear in London in October as part of an extensive tour and I can only hope that this auspicious solo debut disc marks the start of a lasting career - on this evidence she is no flash in the pan.
By Hugo Shirley
Simone Dinnerstein performs the Goldberg Variations in her London debut at the Wigmore Hall on 23 October 2007.
External link: Simone Dinnerstein's home page.