ConcertPulse
Honeck & Rana
Who’s the bigger star here: the composer or the interpreter? The Italian pianist Beatrice Rana has often entered into the competition with Tchaikovsky’s First Piano Concerto. Though his mentor Nikolai Rubinstein considered it »bad, trivial, vulgar«, for almost 150 years now, it is one of the most widely performed hits whatsoever. No wonder when you consider its ingredients: gripping virtuosity, catchy tunes, and melodies that are worked up into a never-ending rapture.