Béatrice Hardy Laudrin

Beatrice Rana, characterised by Gramophone as a pianist of “fire and poetry, imagination and originality, temperament and charm, all on top of fearless technical address”, brings together two monumental sonatas: Beethoven’s Hammerklavier Piano Sonata (No. 29) and Chopin’s Piano Sonata No. 2 in B♭minor, Op. 35, famous for its third movement, the Funeral March.

Making a career and some recordings in the USA, pianist Beatrice Long features as the fourth pianist to contribute a volume in the Naxos projected series of the complete sonatas of Domenico Scarlatti. The recording was made in 1996 but not issued until 2002. It will do little to enhance the reputation of the pianist, the series, or Scarlatti himself. There is drama, magic, grandeur and ingenuity aplenty in these single movement works, but little of it is projected here.

Chopin is reserved, visionary and mysterious," says Beatrice Rana. "There are many layers to his music. It's pleasing to the ear and sincere in it's communication, but the deeper you go, the more you find…" For this album, Rana pairs Chopin's 12 op 25 études with his four scherzi, focusing on two musical genres that the composer, combining intellect and imagination, transformed into something new. "It was Chopin who invented the 'concert study'," explains Rana. "To me, the études seem implicitly connected, joined by a single line of expression, as if they are taking you on a journey.

Beatrice Rana, characterised by Gramophone as a pianist of “fire and poetry, imagination and originality, temperament and charm, all on top of fearless technical address”, brings together two monumental sonatas: Beethoven’s Hammerklavier Piano Sonata (No. 29) and Chopin’s Piano Sonata No. 2 in B♭minor, Op. 35, famous for its third movement, the Funeral March.

Beatrice Rana, partnered by the Chamber Orchestra of Europe and conductor Yannick Nézet-Séguin, performs the piano concertos of Robert Schumann and Clara Wieck-Schumann. She complements them with Liszt’s transcription for solo piano of Robert’s song ‘Widmung’, an exuberant dedication of love, composed in the year of Robert and Clara’s marriage. The previous year (1839), Robert had written to Clara: “You complete me as a composer, as I do you. Every thought of yours comes from mysoul, just as I have to thank you for all my music.”