Schumann - Violin Sonatas
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Label: Hyperion
Cat No: CDA68354
Format: CD
Number of Discs: 1
Genre: Chamber
Release Date: 31st January 2025
Contents
Works
Violin Sonata no.1 in A minor, op.105Violin Sonata no.2 in D minor, op.121
Violin Sonata no.3 in A minor, WoO27
Artists
Alina Ibragimova (violin)Cedric Tiberghien (piano)
Works
Violin Sonata no.1 in A minor, op.105Violin Sonata no.2 in D minor, op.121
Violin Sonata no.3 in A minor, WoO27
Artists
Alina Ibragimova (violin)Cedric Tiberghien (piano)
About
The critical reception of Schumann's Violin Sonatas – like that of much of the composer's late output – has vacillated over the course of the intervening centuries. Written for and first performed by some of the leading violinists of the day, all three are now recognised for the masterpieces they undoubtedly are, needing no apology: and we are fortunate indeed to be in a position to enjoy such dedicated performances as these.
Sound/Video
Paused
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1Violin Sonata No.1 in A minor, op.105 (1851): 1. Mit leidenschaftlichem Ausdruck
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2Violin Sonata No.1 in A minor, op.105 (1851): 2. Allegretto
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3Violin Sonata No.1 in A minor, op.105 (1851): 3. Lebhaft
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4Violin Sonata No.2 in D minor, op.121 (1851): 1. Ziemilch langsam – Lebhaft
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5Violin Sonata No.2 in D minor, op.121 (1851): 2. Sehr lebhaft
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6Violin Sonata No.2 in D minor, op.121 (1851): 3. Leise, einfach
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7Violin Sonata No.2 in D minor, op.121 (1851): 4. Bewegt
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8Violin Sonata No.3 in A minor, WoO27 (1853): 1. Ziemilch langsam – [Lebhaft]
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9Violin Sonata No.3 in A minor, WoO27 (1853): 2. Intermezzo. Bewegt, doch nicht zu schnell
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10Violin Sonata No.3 in A minor, WoO27 (1853): 3. Scherzo. Lebhaft
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11Violin Sonata No.3 in A minor, WoO27 (1853): 4. Finale. Markiertes, ziemlich lebhaftes Tempo
Europadisc Review
Although they have never been among his most popular works, Schumann’s violin sonatas – two published during his lifetime, the third only as late as 1956 – have in recent years attracted increasingly prominent performers. And with good reason: together, they bear witness to Schumann’s fruitful creative relationship not just with his pianist-composer wife, Clara, as well as Brahms and the Hungarian violin virtuoso Joseph Joachim, but also the violinists Wilhelm Joseph von Wasielewski and Ferdinand David. These were all big names in 19th-century German musical Romanticism, and the works that Schumann composed under their various influences are replete with big gestures and rich, animated and often turbulent textures. And they clearly appeal to Alina Ibragimova and her regular musical partner Cédric Tiberghien on their latest disc for the Hyperion label.
The works are presented in chronological order, so that the three-movement A minor Sonata, completed in September 1851, comes first. Its opening, with a passionate, low-lying violin theme accompanied by restless piano figuration, sets the tone for the album. Even at its richest and most impassioned, Ibragimova’s tone (on a 1570 Amati violin) has a fundamental focus and clarity which is matched by Tiberghien, playing a Bechstein grand whose lightness and fine definition suggest an instrument from the turn of the last century (no details of its date are given in the accompanying booklet). In this first sonata, Schumann’s frequent leaning to the submediant (F) is a hallmark of his A minor works. The central Allegretto – lovingly played here – has a gently bucolic feel, notwithstanding some bolder moments, but the finale, marked Lebhaft (‘lively’) hurls us back into the A minor maelstrom, and although there are occasional balancing passages, Ibragimova and Tiberghien keep the music on a short leash, the forward momentum brilliantly sustained.
Although it subsequently became the most popular of Schumann’s violin sonatas, the composer himself expressed his dissatisfaction with the First Sonata (labelled ‘für Pianoforte und Violine’). The Second Sonata was his more ambitious response, cast now in four movements and titled ‘Zweite grosse Sonate [i.e. Second Grand Sonata] für Violine und Pianoforte’, the violin now given greater prominence. Composed in November 1851, it starts with grandiose introductory chords and a slow introduction before bursting into the lively D minor main tempo. The way in which Ibragimova and Tiberghien exchange answering phrases speaks volumes for their close musical understanding, as does the way in which they shape the peaks and troughs of this opening movement. The scherzo is an incisive B minor affair, typically Schumannesque in the way it combines athleticism with insistence and underlying passion. It is crowned by a beatific B major appearance in its closing bars of the chorale tune ‘Gelobet seist du, Jesu Christ’.
Lightly plucked violin chords (suggestive here of a mandolin) underscored by the piano open the intermezzo-like G major third movement, before the violin launches into a beautifully halting but inward melody, which blossoms in an ensuing variation. A troubled minor-key episode (with four glassy sul ponticello bars from the violin) does little to ruffle the overall beatific feel. The mood of the rapt closing bars is brushed aside by the energetic opening of the finale, although the rays of sunshine that appear periodically are typical of Schumann at his most poetic. Ibragimova’s rapier-like tone, set above Tiberghien’s bubbling accompaniment, keep this movement on its toes, in a life-enhancing reading.
The Third Violin Sonata (like the First, in A minor) is Schumann’s own expansion of the two movements (slow movement and finale) he originally composed for the celebrated ‘F–A–E’ Sonata dedicated to Joachim in October 1853 (Albert Dietrich and Brahms respectively wrote the first and third movements). Schumann’s own completion shares its four-movement structure, and even the rhetorical slow introduction followed by a Lebhaft main tempo, with his Second Sonata. Yet although the work contains plenty of Schumannesque hallmarks (not least the bold sweep of the first movement’s main section), the work did not find favour with Clara in the years after Schumann’s death at the age of 46, and had to wait a further 110 years for its publication. If only Clara could have heard this performance: bursting with Romantic energy and sensitivity (for the latter, try the gorgeous Intermezzo), it receives playing of deep commitment and insight from both performers here.
These exceptionally fine recordings – made in London’s Henry Wood under the experienced producer Andrew Keener – are complimented by excellent booklet notes from Laura Tunbridge, and an evocative cover reproduction of Heinrich Jakob Fried’s The Blue Grotto at Capri (1835). Ibragimova and Tiberghien set a new benchmark in these often overlooked works: do try to hear it, not least for their magical traversal of the Third Sonata.
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