‘Beatrice Rana’

Gaspard de la Nuit was not Ravel’s first foray into the world of fairytales, but the ethereal innocence of Ma Mère l’Oye has disappeared into the dark trilogy of 1908. Thanks to the reference to Aloysius Bertrand’s eponymous poetry collection, Gaspard is more than mere showy virtuosity. It is a poetic test of the composer’s mettle, featuring a water nymph, references to Faust and a nasty dwarf. Conversely, Mendelssohn emphatically turns his back on textual sources in Lieder ohne Worte. Lyrical pieces for the piano were hardly new, but Mendelssohn left the critics guessing as to the meaning of each untitled song in his eight volumes. The Italian pianist Beatrice Rana brings her recital to a close with Brahms’ Piano Sonata No. 2, in which the 19-year-old composer is seduced by a mediaeval German love song.