Hourglass

Native New Yorker Simone Dinnerstein’s close artistic bond with Philip Glass has resulted in the commission of his Third Piano Concerto and its premiere recording. The pianist’s first all-Glass album features the impressive players of her Baroklyn string ensemble. It showcases some of Glass’s best-known music—the three-movement suite drawn from his soundtrack to the 2002 film The Hours, and the much less familiar but equally enthralling Tirol Concerto, his first piano concerto, completed in 2000. The slow movement of the Tirol Concerto is a yearning elegy, brought to life here with overwhelming expressive intensity by soloist and orchestra. The concerto sounds pre-echoes of the three- and four-note melodic patterns that course through The Hours before it expands into a tremendous sequence of variations on a haunting piano theme. Dinnerstein and her companions balance rhythmic precision with a generous way of phrasing that highlights the complex layering of Glass’ polyphonic writing. And that’s displayed brilliantly in their impassioned performance of The Hours Suite.