This is simply superb in every way…Ibragimova and Cédric Tiberghien are typically outstanding throughout, playing with exceptional control without ever forsaking spontaneity…Make no mistake, this performance of the Franck is among the finest on disc, its frequent intimacy providing a distinctive perspective. The timbral range of both players is exceptional.

Superb playing and ravishing engineering intertwine here to stunning effect. It’s a modern set-up – Ibragimova on a 1775 Anselmo Bellosio strung with metal, with Tiberghien on a very beautiful and relatively new Steinway D – and it serves as a reminder that you don’t necessarily need period instruments to bring a lightness and air-filled delineation to these densely textured late-Romantic works.

Refined performances which demand attention, no matter how many recordings of the Franck you may have.

Ibragimova and Tiberghien treat [the Franck] with a lucidity and delicacy which looks forward to Debussy’s Violin Sonata of three decades later...The music’s Romanticism is never short-changed, but rather than powering through the big climaxes with muscle and full-throttle vibrato the pair simply give them room to unfold naturally, and the improvisatory freedom of the third movement seems to infuse the performance as a whole…They despatch the Vierne with such flair, wit and affection that it’s difficult to fathom its comparative neglect.

Lili Boulanger’s Nocturne is a delightful palate-cleanser. Throughout, Tiberghien is a superb partner. The slightly resonant acoustic enhances all the drama.

Neither treads on the other’s toes; equally true when they’re driving the music hard and fast, as in Vierne’s opening allegro or the much more familiar sonata by César Franck. Ibragimova excels at sweeping along, hotly feeling every bar on every track, from the mix of whispered lyricism and incendiary blaze in Ysaÿe’s Poème élégiaque to the delicate pianissmo high-wire act of Lili Boulanger’s Nocturne, the most delectable of encores. What a pleasure dome this album is.