Beatrice Rana is the legal heritage of Rubinstein, Argerich and Michelangeli. And Gould. I listened to her in Erupe a couple of years ago when she played Chopin Scherzi and "Trois Mouvements De Petouchka" (Stravinsky). Her "Goldberge variations" from J.S. Bach are extraordinary and she played way more individual and innovative and personally that Lang Lang or Yuyia Wang. Rana is not showing up or a show maker but a true and real musician and artist!
I like Rana a lot. I feel as of late she hasn’t been as good as she was when she was emerging - I think purely due to having a fully booked calendar and thus less time to practise. Not that she isn’t great, but things from the cliburn competition and the goldbergs are just so exceptional, whereas I felt recent things eg. Miroirs and Petrushka were good but not as exceptional as I had come to expect. Her Scriabin has always been marvellous, and this is a very good performance. However I know she can be even more exceptional, take the 2nd sonata from the cliburn. I was very impressed by a set of etudes and preludes she did too which was more recent. I’m glad we are getting to hear her in this repertoire.
The problem of the young generations is that there are a few piano works wich are always played too fast. For example Brahms op. 35 ("Paganini variations") or Stravinsky's "Petoruchlka" even by unknown young "pianists" during competitions instead of bringing out the great music inside of this . Also since Ivo Pogorelich in the 1980th, the symphonic etudes by Robert Schumann are always performed too fast. It's not a quality of Beatrice Rana. I think she is the best musician and performer in our entire world!
why controversial for you? Maybe too heavy in some parts but shows very great ideas in all the sections, and in general I find it quite in line with other great interpretations of this masterpiece.
