Alina Ibragimova, Cedric Tiberghien - Mozart: Violin Sonatas Nos. 5, 9, 15, 18, 21, 27 & 33 (2016) CD-Rip

Mozart's violin sonatas come mostly from the first part of his career and probably wouldn't have been counted by the composer among his most significant works. They're transitional between the configuration of piano with optional violin accompaniment and that with the violinist in the lead; pianist Cédric Tiberghien here properly receives top billing, and he catches the right balance with violinist Alina Ibragimova. There is nevertheless a profusion of recordings of these works, which stand at the beginning of the violin sonata tradition that has come down to the present day. This recording stands out from the crowd in a way it wouldn't have a decade before the double album's 2016 release: there is no concession to the ideas of the historical performance movement. Ibragimova cultivates a big, lyrical, perhaps characteristically Russian sound in the spacious Violin Sonata in G minor, K. 379. But the real attraction here is the presence of a trio of early sonatas, all written before Mozart's tenth birthday. These aren't usually included in Mozart violin sonata recordings, and they're a bit more musically accomplished than the early symphonies often presented as displays of Mozart's precocity. They don't exactly lead to the later sonatas; the pianist has the lead role, and they are rather diffuse in structure. But sample the active keyboard part in the Adagio opening movement of the Violin Sonata in F major, K. 30, composed in 1766 (CD 2, track 3); it gives an idea of the impact the child Mozart must have had as a traveling virtuoso. Tiberghien and Ibragimova scale their sound down effectively for these early works, and Hyperion's engineering work at the Wyastone Estate concert hall catches all the details. Recommended for those intrigued by Mozart's childhood.