Ravel: Complete Music for Violin & Piano

Maurice Ravel s works for violin and piano have established a central place in the core recital repertoire. These diverse works acknowledge the influences of a range of musical styles from jazz to Impressionism and fuse the tonal colors of Debussy with the lyricism of Franck. The posthumously published one-movement Sonata, written by Ravel as a student, is a lyrical precursor to the composer s stunning Violin Sonata in G major with its unique character and adoption of the blues idiom. The spontaneity, tonal colors and exotic soundscapes in Ravel s violin music call for immense skill in interpretation, and passages in the frenzied Tzigane test the limits of the performers virtuosity. Violinist Alina Ibragimova rises to these challenges with extraordinary verve. She is accompanied by pianist Cédric Tiberghien, who gives elegant and flawless performances and relishes Ravel s iridescent piano parts.