Betrice Rana, Mikko Franck
Following on from her Bach recital in 2017, Italian pianist Beatrice Rana, one of the most captivating performers of her generation, is back at the Easter Festival with Tchaikovsky’s Piano Concerto No. 1.
Despite being brutally criticised by pianist Nikolaï Rubinstein when he handed in his composition, Tchaikovsky’s Piano Concerto No. 1 is a masterful work that brings the soloist versus orchestra dialectic to its apex in a veritable musical explosion. It is one of Rana’s favourite pieces, and her magnificent 2015 recording is exemplary. In Aix, she will be accompanied by the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France under the baton of conductor Mikko Franck, admired by Le Monde for his “natural authority that bends bodies like moths to a flame”.