Beethoven: Violin Sonata No. 9 in A major, Op. 47 ‘Kreutzer'

“His sell-out return to Wigmore Hall in April last year was as thrilling as everyone hoped. The evidence is here: opening with Bach's Partita No 2 in D minor for solo violin, the Soviet-born musician combines impeccable technique with a golden, powerful tone, muscular and sturdy but lithe too, without excessive ornament.” The Observer, 3rd February 2013

“Is Vengerov as good as he ever was? Time will tell. His Bach starts off tentative and effortful, before relaxing into the soulful Sarabanda and Ciaccona – the opposite of the fast, flashy style with which he previously dazzled...it’s only in the Wieniawski and Brahms encores that he switches on the gas.” Financial Times, 9th February 2013 ***

“Vengerov opened the recital with Bach’s D minor Partita. In a reading that’s one of the best out there – big-boned, justifiably confident and played with a swagger commensurate with this player’s talent. This is flawless violin playing – the double stops in the Corrente so easily achieved, the fourth movement’s Giga graceful and witty...Essential listening.” The Arts Desk, 16th February 2013

“He takes a while to warm up in the Bach Partita, and the opening Allemanda sounds cautious at first...The great final Chaconne has some awkward moments, not least in pacing and tonal firmness, though there are magical changes of colour. In the Beethoven there's more consistency...I imagine this was a thrilling concert.” BBC Music Magazine, March 2013 ***

“The playing throughout this disc is vastly sinuous; and though this may not be a seismic shift from his previous style, there is still a sense that he's shed the need to sound merely pretty in order to get closer to the scale and importance of the music.” Gramophone Magazine, March 2013

“the technical perfection he displays in is performance of Bach’s Second Partita surpasses most of those set down in the studio.” The Strad, April 2013

“this young partnership mesmerises and captivates, achieving rare freshness and vitality in the most familiar repertoire...Ibragimova has no musical inhibitions, and brings period and contemporary performance knowledge to her nimble, lucid playing. Tiberghien is a fiery, daredevil but musically supportive pianist. They sprint through the first movement presto of the "Kreutzer", especially, with self-evident joy.” The Observer, 24th April 2011

“Ibragimova and Tiberghien show just how complex Beethoven's emotional language can be - impassioned and direct one moment, wickedly ironic the next - while keeping a tight grip on overall structure...As before, the players are alert, agile and acutely responsive to each other at every turn, and Ibragimova's tone retains that paradoxical balance between apparent fragility and intense inner strength...Excellent live recordings too.” BBC Music Magazine, June 2011 *****

“This new recording...catches both the grandeur and the grace...The two players are in total accord...Tiberghien undoubtedly has the harder job technically. There are some finger-twisting triplets in the variation movement of the A major Sonata, but he dances through them with ease...[Ibragimova] may look elfin, but in the Kreutzer her rough tone suggests unhinged passion.” The Telegraph, 20th May 2011 ****

“Particularly impressive is Ibragimova's tone: never unduly sweet, and coloured with an astringency that remains absolutely right for Beethoven, while remaining free of an unpleasant edginess...The prize of this disc is a stunning 'Kreutzer' Sonata, here gaining a performance that conveys the work's inherent grandeur better than any other I have heard...there is no doubt that this cycle ranks with any and surpasses many” International Record Review, May 2011

“their playing has a powerful sense of progress through the series of modulations, born, I imagine, out of the intensity of live performance...their account of the Kreutzer's first movement, with its Furtwängler-like broadening at the climax of the coda, unmistakably exposes the music's portrayal of emotional turmoil” Gramophone Magazine, July 2011

“this live performance positively fizzes with shared inspiration” Classic FM Magazine, July 2011 ****

“[The Kreutzer is] freshly reimagined by Mullova. Her tense, wiry sound combines ideally with the 1822 piano that Bezuidenhout can pound to its very limits without overwhelming her; there is beautiful use of the quiet dampened register, which, combined with pizzicato violin, sounds magical.” The Observer, 23rd May 2010

“The pitch is dark (approximately a quarter tone below modern concert pitch), the articulation bold, the textures volatile...A provocative and highly expressive reading.” The Independent on Sunday, 30th May 2010

“Even the doubters and period-performance sceptics might be persuaded by the sheer musicality of these performances, and by the fresh blend and delicate balance of colours that they encompass...There is a real sense here of a musician doing something she believes in, not for any narrow “authentic” purpose but because it brings the music to life in a new way.” The Telegraph, 1st June 2010 *****

“A tone gritty but bright, notes and phrases crackling with fire...[Mullova]’s not the only source of sparks...Kristian Bezuidenhout [is] a fortepiano specialist of sparkling powers...Above all, the fortepiano and the gut-stringed violin bring extra excitement, danger even, to Beethoven’s music, never designed for purring quietly on a shelf.” The Times, 11th June 2010 ****

“Mullova's tone has enough variety and character not to need more than occasional touches of vibrato...Bezuidenhout remembers that pianists in Beethoven's day would often spread chords, and he and Mullova both add to the ebullient feeling with improvised flourishes.” Gramophone Magazine, September 2010

“[Mullova] shows a profoundly un-diva-ish appreciation of the way the relationship between the violin and piano changes in these two sonatas...In the earlier sonata it's Kristian Bezuidenhout's agility and minute clarity of articulation that dominate...Right from the start of the Kreutzer Mullova steps centre stage, as Beethoven obviously meant her to.” BBC Music Magazine, September 2010 ****

“Mullova sets a new benchmark for the Beethoven violin sonatas. Her disc has two defining characteristics – the “period” approach she and Bezuidenhout adopt, and the volatility and danger they find in the music. The two facets are interdependent...Mullova gives the music an invigorating sense of attack” Financial Times, 16th October 2010 ****

“This is far from being just another recording of the Kreutzer Sonata. Patricia Kopatchinskaja and Fazil Say share a radical approach, performing each musical gesture in the most vivid way, with smoothness and tonal beauty a secondary consideration. It's undeniably exciting, especially the first movement which, after all, is quite a wild piece, but the exaggerated shortness of many staccato notes can be quite disturbing. And in the finale, which, though it shares something of the first Presto's manic quality, has a joyful aspect, Kopatchinskaja's ultra-short, rather splashy bowing of both main themes fails to project their full melodic élan.
Like the Beethoven, the Bartók is a slightly frustrating mixture of the brilliant and the questionable, but in the Ravel the performance's radical edge is more completely successful. The first movement's out-of-key interjections are sharply characterised and drawn together by a powerful sense of line, and the spirit of the Blues movement is captured wholeheartedly, with some unusual piano sounds and spectacular violin- playing. Not surprisingly, Say's own Sonata is also beautifully played. Most imaginatively written for the two instruments and adopting a direct, uncomplicated style, four short movements chart a progression from romantic melancholy through an area of dark, grotesque struggle to an empty, bleak landscape, with a repeat of the gentle first movement as consolation. Daring, and highly individual playing – it's a CD worth investigating.” Gramophone Classical Music Guide, 2010

“Patricia Kopatchinskaja and Fazil Say share a radical approach, performing each musical gesture in the most vivid way, with smoothness and tonal beauty a secondary consideration. It's undeniably exciting… Daring, and highly individual playing…” Gramophone Magazine, January 2009