Violin Sonata No. 1 in A minor, Op. 105 (1851)
Violin Sonata No. 2 in D minor, Op. 121 (1851)
Violin Sonata No. 3 in A minor, Wo027 (1853)

It's a well documented fact that Robert Schumann (1810-1856) suffered from mental instability. Precise diagnosis has never been determined - be it bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, or mental breakdown brought on by syphilis - but whatever the root of the problem, it worsened over time to the point when in early 1854 he attempted to commit suicide by jumping in the River Rhine. He spent the rest of his days in an asylum where he died on July 27th 1856. My belief is that he suffered from schizophrenia as ascertained by the fact that he himself admitted to hearing demon voices and often needed to be constrained in a straitjacket for the safety of others in the asylum. As well, the fact that he attributed the names of "Florestan" and "Eusebius" to his two emotional extremes and applied them to his expressive musical characteristics, underpins the idea of schizophrenia.

All of this to say that this turmoil and disquiet are ubiquitous within his music. What's remarkable above all else, is how he managed to write consistently great music despite all this. These Violin Sonatas display a firm grip on form and structure. The way one voice leads and is echoed by the other and vice versa, or how both parts join forces to usher in a conclusive resolution. All of this is well brought to the fore in these engaging interpretations by Russian violinist Alina Ibragimova and French pianist Cédric Tiberghien. Using the opening pages of the Sonata No. 3 in A minor as an example (short audio clip below), Ibragimova's incisive attacks underpinned by Tiberghien's eloquent and expressively nuanced playing offset each other to create one consonant whole. Throughout the disc you can hear a committed partnership well at work, and always at the music's service without undue affectation or hauteur.