Beatrice Rana, whose recordings range from Bach's greatest keyboard masterpiece, his 'Goldberg' Variations, to such mountain peaks of the repertoire as Beethoven's 'Hammerklavier' Sonata and Prokofiev's Second Piano Concerto now turns to Bach's Piano Concertos. And, as she tells us in her accompanying note, Bach has long been with her as a sustaining presence ever sine she first performed the F minor Concerto at the age of nine.
Re-workings of Bach's own and other composer's works, the Concertos are in every sense pioneering, new lamps for old in the sense that they bring a wholly novel passion and vitality that surprises you at every twist and turn, with their inexhaustible energy and invention. As Beatrice Rana herself puts it, 'those Concertos are so full of music.' And it is this fullness, that joy in recreation, that informs every bar of her performances. Her brisk tempo for the D minor Concerto's opening Allegro is never at the expense of nuance and colour. She is haunting and heart-felt in the central aria-like Adagio before returning us in the final Allegro to her former, finely graded virtuosity.
There is the same vivid response in the Concertos 2, 3 and 5 always suggesting the timelessness of Bach's genius. Rana also makes a plea for Bach on the modern piano rather than the harpsichord suggesting, particularly in the slow movements, that the writing looks far ahead to a 'vocal' singing quality readily available on the later instrument.
Many years ago, Tatina NIkolayeva reminded us in her London recitals of the richly expressive nature of Bach' writing, a far cry from the academicism with which he was once associated. Andras Schiff, too, has insisted that Bach is the most romantic of all composers stressing the timeless nature of his genius.
Beatrice Rana joins previous outstanding recordings of the Concertos by Murray Perahia and Andras Schiff while making, with her vital musical impulse a mark entirely her own. I can scarcely wait to hear her in the Partitas, English and French Suites.
Bryce Morrison