Erica Jeal
The Guardian
May 2016

The cover says Violin Sonatas, but the tracklist says Sonatas for Keyboard and Violin—and as this is Mozart, both descriptions apply. The balance between pianist Cédric Tiberghien and violinist Alina Ibragimova on this recording is as beautifully calibrated as always in this long-standing partnership, but here, unusually, it is Tiberghien’s poised, lyrical piano playing that is, more often than not, to the fore. This double CD takes in seven works in non-chronological order, from the eight-year-old Mozart’s Sonata in B flat, K10—originally published as a keyboard piece with optional violin—and the E flat major K481, written just before his 30th birthday. Each work gets a subtly different approach. Highlights include Ibragimova’s tone as she blossoms into the major-key slow theme in the adagio of K481, and Tiberghien’s echoey, bell‑like episode in the Sonata, K14; but there is something to raise a smile in every single movement.

The Guardian