Debussy: Violin Sonata - Lekeu: Violin Sonata - Ravel: Violin Sonata, Tzigane - Szymanovsky: Mythes

On Wednesday I had the pleasure to accompany an American guest to a concert. Violinist Alina Ibragimova gave a recital, accompanied by Cédric Tiberghien on the piano, at the Brussels Conservatory. I hadn't really heard about Ibragimova but I was attracted by an interesting programme and I was also intrigued by the fine discography that, despite her young age, she has behind her name (including the Hartmann Concerto Funèbre on Hyperion). Furthermore, it has been many years since I have attended a performance at the Conservatory hall. As I have always enjoyed this rather quaint and slightly down at heel venue for its intimate atmosphere and excellent acoustics I was eager revisit it.

Ibragimova is incredibly petite and delicate for her age - she looks 16 rather than 25 - but she coaxes an authoritative, unfussy tone from her instrument that strikes a nice balance between warmth and cleanliness. I was surprised by how nicely the sound seemed to fill the smallest nooks of the concert hall. But what is even more impressive is Ibragimova's musical intelligence. With the elusive Debussy and the fantastic Szymanovsky, this was technically and interpretatively an intimidating programme. But both musicians seemed to rise effortlessly to the challenge. The concert started with the Debussy sonata. This was a very lucky coincidence, as I had just discovered the incredible Cello Sonata. The Violin Sonata was the last work the Debussy completed, in 1917. A balanced and concise three-movement composition, it fits very well in the mould of its sister work. Again, Debussy's supreme command of the medium strikes from the very first, quizzical bars onwards. The work oscillates between melancholy and a clenched-teeth kind of defiance. Underneath one intimates a deep sense of loss. As with the Cello Sonata, there is freedom and density, discipline and complexity. It speaks of deep wisdom and masterly craft. How striking that a 25-year old musician is able to capture and project these multi-dimensional complexities.

The Lekeu sonata is a work I used to listen to fairly often in a very early phase of my musical explorations. But it hasn't reappeared on my playlist for decades. As a composer Verviers-born Lekeu was one of Belgium's greatest promises. He wrote his admirable sonata when he was in early twenties, just a few years before his untimely death at age 24 in 1894 (from typhoid fever). The sonata is grand work, about half an hour long. It's passionately lyrical and more 'narrative', more easy to follow than the compact, mysterious Debussy sonata. I need to make sure to add this to my collection.

The Szymanovsky Mythes, op. 30, I have heard in the past (in the version with Zimerman at the piano), but they were not very familiar. These three tone poems for piano and violin sound extraordinarily sophisticated and fiendishly difficult to play. It's another work I do not have in my collection and that I urgently need to re-investigate.

Finally, the Ravel is another great sonata, urbane and refined, and a fitting conclusion to a quite marvelous recital. The textures are more translucent and less dense compared to the Debussy but there is a certain contrariness due to the two voices in this work sometimes veering off in quite different directions. As an encore we were treated to an astonishing feat of white hot virtuosity with a scorching Tzigane. Ibragimova and her partner certainly showed their mettle. An additional fact that contributed to the listening pleasure was the fact that the audience in the Conservatory hall was extremely silent during the performance. Even between breaks one couldn't hear as much as a sigh. 

Since the recital I have listened a couple of times to the Debussy sonata in a performance by Dutch violinist Liza Ferschtman (part of a 2CD Brilliant collection of various works for violin and piano). Also Ferschtman seems to have an excellent grasp of this complex work. Very striking are the flute-like effects she produces in the slow, introspective middle section of the sonata's first movement.

Of the Ravel sonata I have only a version by Chantal Juillet (a Canadian violinist married to conductor Charles Dutoit) accompanied by Pascal Rogé. I must say that compared to the live performance I heard in Brussels it sounds rather bland and unimaginative (despite it having a won a Gramophone award at the time). Also the Tzigane comes nowhere near what Ibragimova/Tiberghien treated us on. So I need to make sure I get their Hyperion disc with the Ravel and Lekeu sonatas.