104
people found this helpful, as of 2023
ranked #250,149 most helpful
out of 571,544,897 reviews
★★☆☆☆
Not equal to the hype
I've heard and appreciated so many performances of the Goldbergs, from Landowska to Hantai, from Gould to Tipo and Schiff. One thing in common with all the really satisfying versions I know is a sense of journey and pacing, a sense that the artist knows where they are taking us. This is often felt at the arrival of Variation 25, an important signpost on the way "home." When set up effectively, it is a profound experience, the still heart of the piece. Simone Dinnerstein, however, has by this juncture allotted so much time to underdifferentiated meandering that the "black pearl" (as Landowska called it) feels like just another in a line of slow, melancholy pavanes. One hates to add more cynicism to this world, but the pretty face on the cover, along with the "inspiring" back-story, would seem to be what places this release in Oprah's Record club.
