Spirits of Spring – Lieder and Sonatas for Fortepiano and Violin

"Spirits of Spring" combines works by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Joseph Martin Kraus, Fanny and Felix Mendelssohn, and Niels Wilhelm Gade into a varied program for violin and fortepiano. In addition to two sonatas, it features Fanny Hensel’s only surviving work for this instrumentation, as well as three songs by Felix Mendelssohn specially arranged for violin and piano by Annemarie Åström and Anna Kuvaja. The program concludes with Gade’s second violin sonata, which is clearly influenced by his close connection to the Leipzig music scene and to Felix Mendelssohn.

Annemarie Åström and Anna Kuvaja perform on period instruments, tailoring the program to the era in which each work was composed. This creates a colorful panorama bridging the Classical and early Romantic periods, in which well-known and lesser-known works stand side by side.