The Berlin Concert

Johann Sebastian Bach (Composer), Ludwig van Beethoven (Composer), Philip Lasser (Composer), Simone Dinnerstein (Performer)

Product Details

• Performer: Simone Dinnerstein
• Composer: Johann Sebastian Bach, Ludwig van Beethoven, Philip Lasser
• Audio CD (August 26, 2008)
• SPARS Code: DDD
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Telarc
• ASIN: B0019MFY7W
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #32,334 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

  Popular in this category: (What's this?)

  #26 in

  Music > Classical > Historical Periods > Baroque (c.1600-1750) > Forms & Genres > Variations

Editorial Reviews

New York Sun, July 14, 2008
"...Ms. Dinnerstein chose an interesting, well-balanced, and eloquent program...She made a splash with that "Goldberg" disc last year. And, in this Berlin concert, she has a worthy follow-up."

Product Description
Dinnerstein chose this program because of how the pieces speak to each another, and because of their relationship to the music of Bach. "My hope with this concert was to program a group of pieces that would contrast with and relate to each other, despite being separated by hundreds of years," she explains. "So much music written since Bach has been influenced by him, and the Beethoven and the Lasser recorded here are no exceptions. Philip Lasser's variations on the very dark Bach chorale, Nimm von uns, Herr, du treuer Gott (Take from us, Lord, Thou faithful God), draw on Bach's intense and meditative side. Lasser's writing is intricately crafted and encompasses a range of styles, from a contrapuntal energy reminiscent of Bach, to French Impressionism and even jazz. Beethoven's Opus 111 sounds surprisingly contemporary in this company. The first movement looks ahead to Liszt and the second movement, with its set of variations on a chorale-like arietta, looks back to Bach and ahead to jazz. All three works are densely layered, but also have a sense of freedom and directness of expression. Though they span almost 300 years, in many ways, to me, they each feel grounded in the present."

Of Dinnerstein's performance of Beethoven's Op. 111 during the March 2007 Bach Festival of Philadelphia, The Philadelphia Inquirer raved: "Emotionally, intellectually and technically, this music couldn't be more demanding, and Dinnerstein's performance was in a league with any of the great Beethoven pianists of our time . . . I've heard Dinnerstein play fine performances, but none with the thunderbolt-hurling confidence of this one."

See all Editorial Reviews

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Simone Dinnerstein's Berlin Philharmonie Recital: A Triumph of Splendid Musicianship, August 26, 2008

By	John Kwok (New York, NY USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 50 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

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.

16 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Quite Lovely, August 26, 2008

By	Eileen Pollock (New York, NY) - See all my reviews

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.

1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Lasser Is at The Center of This Musical Tootsie Roll., June 19, 2009

By	J. F. Laurson (Washington, DC United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

With Simone Dinnerstein's new release on Telarc, the slick attempt to spice up every last bit of her bio includes even the CD's title: "Simone Dinnerstein, THE BERLIN CONCERT". There are a few pianists who have had a "The Berlin Concert". (Evgeni Kissin's debut under Karajan at the 1988 New Year's concert was one such event.) "The Berlin Concert" has a tempting ring to it. It comes with connotations of the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra - which wasn't anywhere near Ms. Dinnerstein then or since. And how easily does "at the Berlin Philharmonie" (Chamber Music Hall) become "with the Berlin Philharmonic" in subsequent retellings.

"The Berlin Concert" also insinuates that it was a big event with hints of red carpet, columns of searchlights left and right, and critics in eager anticipation at the vast 2440 seat Philharmonie. Whether quite that much attention was given in Berlin's 1180 seat *Kammermusiksaal* (admittedly adjacent to the Philharmonic Hall), is questionable.


Well, better than harping on the finer points of "Recital" vs. "Concert", let's listen - by way of skipping the artist's vacuous liner notes - to what the music has to say, which is, these introductory words notwithstanding, the ultimate arbiter of a CD's value.

She opens with Bach's French Suite No.5 in G major, which is in keeping with her Goldberg Variation success that brought her from `giglets' in nursing homes to the concertizing limelight. Whenever she plays Bach, for better or worse, I can't help thinking that it's taken from - or belongs on - a "Bach for Babies" or "Lullabies for Lovers" CD. The wallowing style has its appeal, but I'm not sure I'm proud of whatever part in me it is that this appeals to. Perhaps the one that would like to play piano itself, to indulge in pianistic exaggeration, the part that would like to underline everything already in italics and put in parentheses whatever is in small fonts. Ultimately I find the ostentation of her mannerisms, the caressing, and rhythmic freewheeling more detriment than their superficial seduction a benefit. Recent recordings by Gulda and especially Till Fellner show that less is (much) more.

There is even less I can recommend in the performance of Beethoven's last Piano Sonata, op.111. If this is "the last classical piano sonata", not just Beethoven's, but the Omega of its genre - as Adorno, via Thomas Mann via Wendell Kretschmar would have it - Dinnerstein sure doesn't make a case for it. There is nothing of the patrician heaping of music upon music that Arrau brings to this, nothing of the crystalline, tight-lipped energy of (early!) Serkin, and certainly no hint of the momentous vertical struggle and intellectual rigor that Pollini, in one of his greatest recordings, has achieved. Worse yet: there is nothing that Dinnerstein has to offer in place of any of these qualities; just the notes, played efficiently and with mechanical accomplishment.

So far it sounds like this CD would already be in my `discard' pile. Instead I will file it under "L", and regard it highly. Because centre-recital Dinnerstein plays Philip Lasser's Twelve Variations on a Chorale by J.S. Bach. And that's what you will want to hear. The chorale is "Nimm von uns, Herr, du treuer Gott" from Cantata BWV 101 and the forty-six year young Lasser, who is a member of the faculty at Juilliard, finds 12 ways to vary this that are typical of his style which simply calling "neo-romantic" would be rather too simple. It's part of a new, bold melodiousness that is inoculated against the accusation of kitsch or triteness through sheer quality and originality. Lasser, and a very select few other composers, manage to write music that can be immediately established as new, yet uses means that have been part of the composer's toolkit for a hundreds of years. More graphically: Those who like the `music' of John Rutter, Andrew Lloyd-Webber, or John Williams will find Lasser equally appealing as those who can't control their gag reflex at the very mention of those composers' drivel.

Best of all, Dinnerstein's essentially romantic, eagerly pleasing style, coupled with her technical faculty, not only allows the Lasser to shine, it positively contributes to it. Bach provides the structure, Lasser's perennial French air absorbs Dinnerstein's floweriness, and the audible 21st century, modern touch assures the whole concoction stays lean and clean.

Consider the Bach and Beethoven on this disc the packaging; the former of which may well conform to many a listener's taste more than to mine, the latter which probably can't be helped. The Lasser is the center of this musical tootsie roll and it's worth getting there, no matter how many licks it takes.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Barely three stars for Bach; barely two for Beethoven, but five for Lasser. That makes for 3.33 stars which I'll round up because in this case the value of the CD is more defined by what's best on it than by what's worst. As for the breathless praise found in other Amazon comments: De gustibus. It depends on what type of listener you are and chances are you know which category you'll fall into.