Violin Sonata in D major‘Sonatina’ D384
Violin Sonata in A minor‘Sonatina’ D385
Violin Sonata in G minor‘Sonatina’ D408
Violin Sonata in A major‘Duo’ D574
Rondo inB minor D895
Fantasy in C major D934
Sei mir gegrüsst! D741

The luminous partnership ofAlina Ibragimova and Cédric Tiberghien returns to Hyperion forthis double album containing Schubert’s complete music for violin and piano. Theirintelligence and technical prowess, their seamless and intimate connection as performers and their profound understanding of the music combine in magical performances.

While still in his teens, Schubert wrote four works for violin and piano that could have been given the label ‘sonata’, yet none of the four was published with that title. The ?rst three, completed in 1816, bearinstead the designation of ‘Sonatina’, perhaps to appeal to the amateur market. But these are highly accomplished works by the teenage composer and there is little ‘domestic’ feeling in the extended, mysterious unravellings of D385 which hint at compositions yet to come.

The later Violin Sonata inAmajor, D574 (now described as a ‘Duo’), urges the violinist on to greater virtuosic feats, and theRondo in B minor even more so, with the piano sometimes treated as a surrogate orchestra. The extensive Fantasy in C major, written in the last year of Schubert’s life, is a masterpiece: the composer’s greatest achievement in this genre, which combines poignancy with sheerjoy in life itself.