The violin sonatas I (cd)

Gramophone Magazine
July 2026
Editor's Choice

Alina Ibragimova (violin), Cédric Tiberghien (fortepiano)

Beethoven: Violin Sonata No. 1 in D major, Op. 12 No. 1
Beethoven: Violin Sonata No. 2 in A major, Op. 12 No. 2
Beethoven: Violin Sonata No. 3 in E-flat major, Op. 12 No. 3
Beethoven: Violin Sonata No. 5 in F major, Op. 24 "Spring"

For her solo debut on BIS Records, violinist Alina Ibragimova teams up with her long-time chamber partner Cédric Tiberghien to embark on a complete cycle of Beethoven's violin sonatas. Performing on period instruments—Ibragimova on a gut-stringed violin and Tiberghien on a fortepiano modeled after a 1794 Viennese original—the duo strips away modern heavy vibrato and concert-hall projection to transport listeners directly into the intimate soundscape of a turn-of-the-19th-century Viennese salon.

This inaugural volume pairs the three Op. 12 sonatas—Beethoven's first published forays into the genre as Mozart’s spiritual heir—with the universally beloved Op. 24 "Spring" Sonata. While historically designated as pieces written "for harpsichord or fortepiano, with the accompaniment of a violin," these interpretations emphasize an absolute equality of partnership. The gut strings bite and sing with dramatic rhetorical urgency, while the clear, woody registers of the fortepiano ensure that Beethoven's dense keyboard writing never overwhelms the texture.

"Everywhere is colour, drama and thought-filled expressive detail... the intimacy and sensitively weighted balancing of this conversation, and the natural immediacy of Andrew Keener’s capturing in Wyastone Concert Hall, puts the listener straight into some Viennese drawing room among friends." — Gramophone Magazine, July 2026.