Alina Ibragimova and Cédric Tiberghien will Return to SFP Next Month

The duo of violinist Alina Ibragimova and pianist Cédric Tiberghien made its San Francisco Performances (SFP) debut in 2014 with a highly imaginative approach to programming. (Ibragimova had already given an SFP solo recital in 2012.) On that occasion two sonatas by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (K. 301 in G major and K. 304 in E minor) were separated by “Six Melodies for Violin and Keyboard,” composed by John Cage in 1950, while Anton Webern’s Opus 7 (four pieces for violin and piano composed in 1910) separated Mozart from Ludwig van Beethoven’s Opus 47 (“Kreutzer”) sonata in A major. (Those familiar with Cage’s opinions about music would probably recognize that his spirit would have been comforted by the distance from Beethoven!)

At the beginning of next month, Ibragimova and Tiberghien will return to SFP. Once again, they will use music from the twentieth century as “spacers” between their other selections. This time, however, those “spacers” will be solo performances. Tiberghien’s solo will be Alban Berg’s only piano sonata, his Opus 1, one of the first products of his studies in free composition with Arnold Schoenberg. (Berg had previously studied both harmony and counterpoint with Schoenberg beginning in 1904.) This sonata will separate two sonatas for violin and keyboard, both of which are, themselves, decidedly different from one another. The program will begin with Johann Sebastian Bach’s BWV 1017 sonata in C minor, and the Berg will be followed by Johannes Brahms’ Opus 100 sonata in A major. The Brahms sonata, in turn, will be paired with Robert Schumann’s Opus 121 sonata in D minor. The closer kinship between these two pieces will be separated by Ibragimova’s solo performance of the fifth sonata in Eugène Ysaÿe’s Opus 27 collection of six solo sonatas. Each of these sonatas reflected on the style of a famous violinist Ysaÿe knew at the time; and the violinist for the fifth sonata, consisting of two movements, entitled “L’Aurore” (the dawn) and “Danse Rustique” (rustic dance), in the key of G major, was Mathieu Crickboom.

This recital will begin at 7:30 p.m. on Monday, April 3. It will take place in Herbst Theatre, located on the ground floor of the Veterans Building at 401 Van Ness Avenue on the southwest corner of McAllister Street. Tickets are being sold for $40 in the balcony, $55 for most of the Dress Circle, and $65 for premium seating. They may be purchased in advance through a City Box Office event page, which shows the Herbst floor plan and which prices apply to which sections. Tickets can also be purchased by calling 415-392-2545, as well as at the Herbst Box Office on the evening of the performance.