Violin Sonata in F major, MWV Q26 (Mendelssohn) - from CDA68322 - Hyperion Records

Reviews

‘If anyone can lift [Mendelssohn's] violin sonatas from being viewed as charming but of niche interest then it’s Alina Ibragimova (one of today’s leading exponents of the E minor Concerto), all the more so when it’s hand in glove with the pianist with whom she’s produced such covetable sets of Mozart and Beethoven sonatas, to name the composers who perhaps are these sonatas’ closest musical relatives. Happily, therefore, the results are every bit as good as one would hope. For starters, how wonderful to hear such natural, unfussy lyricism in the solo violin opening to the F minor Sonata, Op 4, of 1823, in place of the rubato and sometimes portamento-heavy, cadenza-like drama so many other violinists can’t resist … and I can’t not mention the merry, fairy-dusted virtuosity with which they flutter out the Midsummer Night’s Dream-esque finales of both F major sonatas. In a word, delicious’ (Gramophone)

‘Clean playing from both performers, with light pedalling from Cédric Tiberghien, deals honestly with the two early sonatas and their engaging mixture of Classical and Romantic materials … the 1838 Sonata, in which Tiberghien understandably allows himself more generous pedalling, shows Mendelssohn on top form’ (BBC Music Magazine)

‘Such a powerful partnership, this—full of ideas and energy and musical inspiration, and it's an excellent, intimate recording as well: the hushed opening of the D major sonata fragment at the end is magical’ (BBC Record Review)

‘Alina Ibragimova and Cédric Tiberghien start with the first version of his F major Sonata of 1838, giving it a good heroic opening with plenty of flair, which subsides into gentle caressing of the second subject. These contrasts of dynamism and repose, strength and delicacy, recur throughout the movement, giving shape and ever-shifting colour. The same can be said of the Adagio, in which the restrained grace of the opening melody opens into grand rhetorical gesture, with Ibragimova giving a keen dramatic edge to Mendelssohn’s more flamboyant passages … the recording is close and well balanced’ (The Strad)» More

‘This Hyperion delivers on every level in a recording of compelling vitality and, to my ears at least, flawless musicianship’ (MusicWeb International)» More

‘A beautiful piece [MWV Q26], much in the same spirited vein as the slightly later Cello Sonatas. Ibragimova and Tiberghien offer an incisive, articulative account of its big first movement, one that never lacks for momentum or color. The exchanges of foreground and background roles in the central Adagio flow beautifully while the concluding Assai vivace is brilliantly felt, its episodes of tension and release unfolding with utter naturalness. Rounding out the album is a fragment of a Violin Sonata in D that the composer left incomplete sometime in the late 1820s. It’s a tantalizing sketch, with a warm-hearted Adagio introduction followed up by a stormy fast section, but not much more—though Ibragimova and Tiberghien get its closing bars to shimmer’ (The Arts Fuse, USA)

‘After Mendelssohn set down the Sonata in F major [MWV Q26] in draft form, he got as far as revising the first movement before moving on to other things. Superb duo partners Alina Ibragimova and Cédric Tiberghien have opted for the original first movement. Once you listen, you'll understand why. The triumphant opening is so lively and joy-filled as to make one question how it could ever be bettered. The lovely second movement impresses as a tender love song from a sensitive and longing soul. It's so wonderful and filled with beauty that anyone who chose to exit this lifetime while this was playing might conceivably die with a smile on their face. The sonata closes with a joyous cat-and-mouse romp. As a celebration of the goodness life has to offer, this marvelous sonata deserves a place alongside Beethoven's Archduke Trio and the finest works of Mozart’ (Stereophile)

PERFORMANCE

RECORDING

«Tout le Mendelssohn solaire est enclos en ces pages comme dans le piano vif-argent de Cédric Tiberghien et l’archet passionné d’Alina Ibragimova. Quel duo ! Après leur impressionnant parcours Mozart, complétissime !, pour le même éditeur, voici qu’ils explorent chaque note que Mendelssohn aura écrite pour leurs deux instruments ensemble … album parfait, qui vient régler la question de la discographie» (Artamag, France)» More

„[Alina Ibragimova und Cèdric Tiberghien] beweisen, dass Mendelssohn nichts mit vermeintlich romantischer Gefühligkeit zu tun hat. Ibragimovas lichter, dabei intensiver Geigenton und Tiberghiens unverzärtelter Zugriff machen die drei Sonaten und einen grandiosen Fragmentsatz zur aufregenden Begegnung mit Mendelssohns klassizistischem Genius“ (Süddeutsche Zeitung, Germany)

Mendelssohn published only one violin sonata, his early sonata in F minor, Op 4 (1823), but left a few others in manuscript. The last and most ambitious, in F major (MWV Q26), was composed in 1838, when Mendelssohn was serving as director of the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra—and as the guiding spirit for the musical life of the city. He intended the work for Ferdinand David. Why Mendelssohn never finished the sonata is unclear, for after completing the first draft he took the trouble to begin revising the first movement, but then set the project aside midway, never to return to it—a fate that befell other substantial compositions, such as the ‘Reformation’ and ‘Italian’ symphonies. Incredibly, the sonata remained in manuscript until 1953, when Yehudi Menuhin published the first edition, but by conflating the two autograph versions of the first movement, and taking considerable editorial liberties as well. Not until 2009, the bicentenary of the composer’s birth, were the two versions released as Mendelssohn had written them. In three movements, the sonata begins with an ebullient allegro vivace that looks ahead to the opening of the Cello Sonata No 2 in D major, Op 58 (1843). At the centre stands a lyrical adagio closely related to the Lied ohne Worte style for which Mendelssohn was famous. The energetic finale, a perpetuum mobile in rondo form, draws the work to its quicksilver conclusion.

Mendelssohn ne publia qu’une seule sonate pour violon et piano, sa sonate de jeunesse en fa mineur, op.4 (1823), mais en laissa quelques autres sous forme manuscrite. La dernière, la plus ambitieuse, en fa majeur (MWV Q26), fut composée en 1838, lorsque Mendelssohn était directeur de l’Orchestre du Gewandhaus de Leipzig—et le père spirituel de la vie musicale de la ville. Il destinait cette œuvre à Ferdinand David. On ignore pourquoi Mendelssohn ne termina jamais cette sonate car, après avoir achevé la première ébauche, il prit la peine de commencer à réviser le premier mouvement, mais mit ensuite le projet de côté à mi-parcours et n’y revient jamais—un sort qui frappa d’autres compositions importantes, comme les symphonies «Réformation» et «Italienne». Chose incroyable, cette sonate resta sous forme manuscrite jusqu’en 1953, lorsque Yehudi Menuhin en publia la première édition, mais après avoir regroupé les deux versions autographes du premier mouvement et en prenant aussi des libertés éditoriales considérables. C’est seulement en 2009, l’année du bicentenaire de la naissance du compositeur, que les deux versions furent publiées comme Mendelssohn les avait écrites. Conçue en trois mouvements, cette sonate commence par un allegro vivace exubérant qui annonce déjà le début de la Sonate pour violoncelle nº 2 en ré majeur, op.58 (1843). Au centre se trouve un adagio lyrique étroitement apparenté au style du Lied ohne Worte auquel Mendelssohn devait célébrité. Le finale plein d’énergie, un perpetuum mobile de forme rondo, mène l’œuvre à sa conclusion très vive.

Mendelssohn veröffentlichte nur eine einzige Violinsonate, seine frühe Sonate f-Moll, op. 4 (1823), komponierte aber noch diverse mehr, die in Manuskriptform überliefert sind. Die letzte und ehrgeizigste, in F-Dur (MWV Q26), entstand 1838, als Mendelssohn als Gewandhauskapellmeister in Leipzig tätig und gleichzeitig der führende Geist des Musiklebens der Stadt war. Das Werk war für Ferdinand David gedacht. Weshalb Mendelssohn die Sonate nie vollendete, ist unklar, denn nach der Fertigstellung des ersten Entwurfs machte er sich die Mühe, den ersten Satz zu überarbeiten. Dann legte er das Projekt allerdings auf halbem Wege beiseite und nahm es nie wieder auf—ein Schicksal, das auch andere bedeutende Kompositionen ereilte, so etwa die „Reformations-Sinfonie“ und die „Italienische Sinfonie“. Unbegreiflicherweise blieb die Sonate bis 1953 unveröffentlicht, als Yehudi Menuhin sie erstmals herausgab, wobei er jedoch die beiden autographen Fassungen des ersten Satzes miteinander kombinierte und sich noch diverse weitere editorische Freiheiten gestattete. Erst 2009, anlässlich des 200. Geburtstag des Komponisten, wurden die beiden Fassungen so veröffentlicht, wie Mendelssohn sie niedergeschrieben hatte. Die dreisätzige Sonate beginnt mit einem beschwingten Allegro vivace, welches den Beginn der Cellosonate Nr. 2 in D-Dur, op. 58 (1843), vorwegnimmt. Der mittlere Satz ist ein lyrisches Adagio, das eng an dem Stil des Liedes ohne Worte orientiert ist, für das Mendelssohn berühmt war. Das energiegeladene Finale, ein Perpetuum mobile in Rondoform, bringt das Werk zu einem quecksilbrigen Abschluss.

Recording details: January 2021
St Silas the Martyr, Kentish Town, London, United Kingdom
Produced by Andrew Keener
Engineered by Oscar Torres
Release date: March 2022
Total duration: 23 minutes 33 seconds

Cover artwork: At the mirror (1827) by Georg Friedrich Kersting (1785-1847)
AKG London

Violin Sonata in F major, MWV Q26

Alina Ibragimova (violin), Cédric Tiberghien (piano)

Reviews

Introduction