Kuhlau: Violin Sonatas, Vol. 1

Featuring

Christina Åstrand
Per Salo
Duo Åstrand/Salo
Friedrich Kuhlau

Did you know?

1/7

Composer Biography

Friedrich Kuhlau, a German composer, never learned to speak Danish and had only one eye, yet became a prominent figure in Danish music.

Recording & Production

Dacapo Records, Denmark's national record label, was founded in 1986 with the aim of releasing the best of Danish music, with most of their recordings being world premieres.

Composer Biography

Kuhlau, a great admirer of Beethoven, met his idol in Vienna in 1825, where they spent days together exchanging canons and counterpoint exercises.

Performer Biography

Christina Åstrand, the violinist on this recording, is one of Scandinavia's most notable violinists and plays a Stradivarius from 1705.

Compositional Technique

The second movement of Kuhlau's Sonata op. 64 features variations on a Danish shipwreck ballad, 'De engellandske Frøkener,' marking his first use of a Danish folk tune in chamber music.

Historical Context

Kuhlau was a leading figure in the Danish Golden Age, a period in the first half of the nineteenth century when arts and sciences flourished despite the country's stagnation.

Composition History

Kuhlau's Sonata op. 64, originally for flute and piano, was published as a violin sonata in 1855, re-instrumented by German-Jewish violinist Eduard Eliason.