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.
