REWIND
Great artists talk about their past recordings This month: ALINA IBRAGIMOVA Violinist
MY FINEST MOMENT
Ravel Violin Sonatas Nos 1 & 2; Tzigane; Berceuse sur le nom de Gabriel Fauré; Lekeu Violin Sonata in G major
Alina Ibragimova (violin), Cédric Tiberghien (piano) Hyperion
CDA67820 (2011) When you get the first edit of a recording, put it in your CD player and listen to it for the first time, it always sounds di!erent to what you are expecting, no matter what those expectations are – the feeling you have when you are playing and then what comes across through the microphone are always going to be di!erent. The one recording, though, that I think I enjoyed the most when I first heard it back was the Ravel and Lekeu CD I made with pianist Cédric Tiberghien. It really seemed as if it conveyed all the freedom that we felt we had when we were playing it. During a recording, you spend a lot of the time experimenting and trying things out – Cédric and I have a totally equal relationship in the recording studio and a lot of the process is just about listening to each other,
not necessarily saying that much, and seeing what happens. In the end, it’s up to the producer to choose his favourite moments and ensure that they all fit together well. In this instance, that selection worked really well.
MY FONDEST MEMORY
Mozart Complete Violin Sonatas Alina Ibragimova (violin),
Cédric Tiberghien (piano)
Hyperion PRHYP01 (2016/17)
For me, recordings are always fun: you’re playing a lot and you get to know the music really well because you keep playing it again and again, always concentrating hard and trying your best to take it to the next level. For that reason, picking out a favourite moment from all my recordings is very di cult! Recording all 37 Mozart violin sonatas took a lot of studio sessions and there was a lot of music to play, but it somehow felt quite easy and we got through it fairly quickly. It’s always wonderful to play Mozart, and in this instance some of it is fairly undiscovered Mozart, with a number written when he was fairly – being able to devote so much time to one composer was great. Cédric and I spread the recording over a year and a half, and each of the double-cd volumes of the series is a long concert programme which we would tour for about a month together beforehand. It’s always good to perform repertoire in concert before going into the studio and enjoying the freedom that gives you.
I’D LIKE ANOTHER GO AT… JS Bach Sonatas and Partitas for solo violin
Alina Ibragimova (violin)
Hyperion CDA67691/2 (2009)
My recording of Bach’s works for solo violin was one of the earliest serious projects I undertook. For any violinist, it’s a big thing to do, as they are wonderful, di cult pieces with so many dimensions to them. The more you play them and the longer you live with them, the more they change in the way that you view them. Because this music has been with me for so long now, if I recorded them again today, I would probably do them very di erently – I am in a di erent stage in my life now and I play di erently in general. That said, if I’m being honest, I haven’t actually listened to the recording itself for years. As far as I’m concerned that moment has passed – we did those experiments in the studio and we did our best with the results, but that is several years ago. For the same reason, I’d also want to record the Beethoven sonatas again, as they are works that Cédric and I recorded a long time ago. There are milestones in the repertoire such as this that you want to do over and over again anyway as time passes – if I did record the Bach again, I’d then probably like to come back and do yet another recording in ten years’ time.
Alina Ibragimova plays the premiere of Rolf Wallin’s Violin Concerto at the BBC Proms on 21 August