Part of the success of this album of four concertos indubitably lies with Beatrice Rana’s partners, the Amsterdam Sinfonietta. She writes in the booklet of how she fell in love with the ensemble on first performing with them in 2019. Her enthusiasm is easy to understand, for this is a crack ensemble and Rana is very much one of the gang when the music demands it. The interpretations are characterised by a sense of freshness, with energy in the outer movements and soul in the inner ones, ornamentation absolutely integral to the line, and a relishing of the possibilities of her Steinway.

Highlights? Here are just some: in the slow movement of the D minor there’s an intensity of expression that reminds us of Bach in sacred cantata mode. The opening movement of the E major Concerto, which is less of an elegant dance than in many hands, Angela Hewitt and the ACO among them (Hyperion), and contrasts beautifully with the melting C sharp minor Siciliano. The opening movement of the D major, where, a couple of minutes in, the key changes to the minor and the Amsterdam strings come to the fore, the piano taking the dynamic right down. I also find Rana’s ebullience in the finale of the D major intoxicating, but if you prefer something a little more gracious, Perahia remains supreme (Sony Classical), his steadier tempo offset by the extra room to ornament to fine effect.

Rana ends with the compact Fifth Concerto in F minor (the work with which she made her concerto debut aged just 9) and again it’s full of imaginative touches, but perhaps particularly outstanding is her Largo, with piano set against pizzicato strings. Perahia and the ASMF offer a more haloed sound, and a masterclass in subtle phrasing; as with Tharaud and Les Violons (Erato) the balance favours the piano, whereas Rana plays this as a duet of absolute equals.

This review originally appeared in the SUMMER 2025 issue of International Piano – Subscribe Today