Beatrice Rana is lauded by American Record Guide for new Warner release

Beatrice Rana recently released a new Warner Classic album featuring Ravel and Stravinsky (Photo credit: Simon Fowler)

Ravel: Miroirs; La Valse; Stravinsky: Petrouchka movements; Firebird movements
American Record Guide

This is a spectacular program that leaves no doubt that Italian Beatrice Rana (b. 1993) is well on her way to the top echelon of pianists in the world. With highly regarded recordings that range from the Goldberg Variations to Prokofieff’s Concerto No. 2, she is likely to be seen and heard worldwide for decades to come. She made her orchestral debut at age 9 and has accumulated a significant number of competition prizes since 2011. Her Carnegie Hall debut was only a year ago and got rave reviews.

This is my first encounter with her playing. The repertoire is well known, but only rarely performed. The pianistic fireworks run all through the program, but opening with Ravel’s Miroirs allows us to hear her subtle and exquisite soft playing. Her technique is faultless, and the washes of color in Ravel’s writing sparkle. The crystal-clear repeated notes and double glissandos in ‘Alborada del gracioso’ show precision and strength. Ravel works frame the recital, and all that can be said of Miroirs is likewise true for La Valse. It is best known in its original orchestration, but the composer’s versions for both solo piano and two pianos have become staples. I cannot recall a more exciting rendition than Rana’s.

Her Stravinsky pieces are also originally for orchestra. The three movements from Petrouchka were done by the composer for Arthur Rubinstein as a virtuosic showpiece. Guido Agosti’s arrangement of the ‘Danse infernale’, ‘Berceuse’, and ‘Finale’ from The Firebird was done in 1928 and only recently has come back into a few daring pianist’s programs (Trifonov). Given the big sustained orchestral writing, especially in the ‘Finale’, one might justifiably wonder how this could be effectively rendered on the piano by just two hands. Rana’s pianism makes it very clear that the right set of hands can do wonders with this.

Warner Classics is also to be commended for their production values. Great piano sound and an excellent booklet complete a package that is now one of my top references for these pieces. I cannot wait for the opportunity to hear Rana in concert.