BACH: Sonatas and Partitas for solo violin (complete) – Alina Ibragimova, violin – Hyperion 67691 (2 CDs), 139:08 total **** [Distr. by Harmonia mundi]:
Pretty gutsy stuff for a 25 year old (and she doesn’t look a day over 16) to record these works, only her second CD release. A tiny wisp of a person, Hyperion has corralled her services after many London accolades have given her a lot of press notice, plus a ’09 Classical Brits award. This very recording will be the Editor’s Choice in the November 2009 Gramophone Magazine. Technically she has everything one could ask for, and none of these fiendishly difficult works appear to pose any trouble for her. There is no doubt in my mind that her future is bright, assuming that the record world doesn’t become overstocked with brilliantly talented gorgeous young babe violinists (come to think of it, maybe that is a problem—we will have to see if the record companies stick with them once they hit their 40s).
Interpretatively I am not as convinced. Her rather small sound—and it is impossible at this point for me to know if this carries into the concert hall or not—has been immaculately though closely captured by the Hyperion engineers. The contrasts that she offers are enormously effective, with some of the most eloquent pianissimos I have heard in this music. Tempos are for the most part extremely rapid, and it is not unusual for her to shave a good 20-30 seconds off most of the other recordings I have gathered over the years. In keeping with this period style, she shuns vibrato almost completely, though I do believe that modern strings are used and a modern tuning employed. So despite this half-and-half approach I decided to compare her to one of the better period recordings, that of Rachel Podger on Channel Classics. Podger uses vibrato, albeit judiciously, and her tempos are more moderate. She records with gut strings at a lower tuning, so perhaps my comparison was not valid after all. But equally frustrating is any sort of meaningful connection to the recent modern recordings as well. Lara St. John, my current favorite, also mixes period and modern styles in a most subtle and effective way, but her instincts gravitate to the dramatic aspects of the scores instead of Ibragimova’s seductive, yet in many ways intemperate affection for Bach’s articulation and implied counterpoint that often negates the larger structure, like the Fuga of the A-minor sonata. So perhaps comparisons just can’t be made yet. Even Janine Jensen’s recording of the second partita stands alone—no complete set yet—though I might be willing to say that Jensen seems to be pursuing a similar path to that chosen by Ibragimova.
This is a young woman’s take on these seminal works, and perhaps that is all to the good as Bach was probably only 33 when he penned them. Perhaps my stodginess in granting this recording full approbation resulted only in my marked refusal to totally emerge from the quagmire of accepted interpretations of years past, but I don’t think so. I can appreciate what she is doing here, though I do hope she reconsiders the vibrato issue, which dulls her interpretation and robs it of a certain emotional quality that I think is present in the music. This is no one’s first choice, but a glance into the crystal ball of this recording may well be a glance into the interpretative nuances of the near future.
— Steven Ritter
