Alina Ibragimova is undoubtedly one of the most endearing violinists in the world. A while ago, I'd been fascinated by her recordings of Schubert's sonatas. Even now, I often put on the CD at home. Tonight, she has been in Tokyo and played Ysaye in Toppan Hall at Iidabashi. In fact, I don't like the hall because it's far away from the station and its seats are stiff. On top of that, there I smell smoke every time. But this time I had no choice but to have bought a ticket to enjoy her playing sonatas for solo violin by Ysaye.

The performance was really nice. I've never experienced such a bright tone in Ysaye. Especially, the second and fifth were so attractive. For instance, at the very beginning of the second sonata, her abrupt but not rude pause after the short passage of Bach's third sonata took my breath away. It almost looked like she was pretending to play the passage by error. Of course it wasn't. Having expected some anger or grief at the pause, I felt a funny surprise. I hope these feathery impression won't change to be more serious and heavier one in her future recordings of this masterpieces.