J.S. Bach: Inventions & Sinfonias
Artist: Simone Dinnerstein
Release Date: January 21, 2014
Label: Sony Classical
Bach’s Inventions and Sinfonias, originally written in 1723 as musical guide for keyboard players, remain a core part of the piano repertoire for students, amateurs, and professional musicians alike and have been lifelong companions for Simone Dinnerstein.
Simone says, “The first keyboard pieces of Bach that I remember hearing were his Inventions, when I was nine years old. The music seemed impossibly expressive and virtuosic at the time, and wholly beyond my abilities. Here were two continuous and independent voices, neither of which was subservient to the other. Until then I had thought of music as melody and accompaniment. An instrumental training is as much a training in how to listen as in how to play. In the text that accompanies the Inventions, Bach calls them ‘an honest guide.’ His Inventions and Sinfonias are marvels in demonstrating just how potent counterpoint is as an aid to expression, and how powerful a cantabile voice can be when surrounded by contradiction and elaboration. These small masterpieces have snippets of dances in them, laments and celebrations, simplicity and complexity.”