Pianist Simone Dinnerstein plays Bach and more at AMFS

Described by The New York Times as “a unique voice in the forest of Bach interpretation,” Simone Dinnerstein’s debut album featured Bach’s Goldberg Variations. She titled Thursday’s concert “Reflections” and has structured the flow of the concert to support how each piece reflects each other.

The first half features Philip Lasser’s “12 Variations on a Chorale” by J.S. Bach and Jean-Philippe Rameau’s “Gavotte et 6 Doubles From Nouvelles Suites de Pieces de Clavecin” — both of which she will play without pausing between the pieces.

“I play it without pause, so it will enhance how they relate to each other. Both have elements of each other,” she said, adding that the music also “speaks to something much more universal.”

She has been playing Lasser’s “12 Variations on a Chorale” for more than 20 years. Lasser’s French influences come out in his compositions, along with his deep influence from Bach.

“It has a lot of color and a lot of texture to the sound,” she said.

That ties into Rameau’s French Baroque style, which she describes as “strangely modern,” with elements that move toward minimalism, “so it’s forward looking,” she said.

“I think that each work sounds unusual because of the way it is reflected against the music around it,” she said.

The second half, which she will also perform without pause, is comprised of Bach’s 15 Sinfonias and Keith Jarrett’s “Encore from Tokyo,” the latter of which was transcribed during an improvisational concert he performed in Tokyo.

“I’ve always thought Jarrett’s improvisations are influenced by his interest in Baroque music,” she said. “The whole work is almost a set of variations.”

Meanwhile, she describes Bach’s 15 Sinfonias like 15 poems. Bach actually wrote it to develop his son’s dexterity and stimulate his imagination by showing how musical ideas can be treated differently.

“They’re not variations, but I felt that they worked in this program because they’re so short and so concentrated in what they have to say,” she said, adding that “something about them is abstract and modern.”

Dinnerstein has performed in Aspen many times, but the last time she came was a few years before the pandemic. Described on Aspen Music Festival and School’s website as “one of the piano world’s most inventive, searching, and expressive artists,” she believes a great pianist brings the music to life.

“The pianists I love to listen to are ones whose playing enlightens me to the music they’re playing,” she said. “They have a very strong sense of structure and have a thoughtful and insightful reading of a work — the very many colors and sounds and touches and tones that they can bring though the piano. I love hearing pianists whose touch makes the music come alive. It draws my attention more to the music than to them.”

Her masterful skills and unique artistry have garnered her critical acclaim since her first album, and all of her 13 albums have topped the Billboard Classical chart’s list of best-selling artists.