Mendelssohn’s successor as the music director of the famous Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra and a close friend of Joachim and the Schumanns, the Danish conductor and composer Niels Wilhelm Gade melded Nordic spirit with the technique of the Germanic masters.

His three violin sonatas mark important stages in his career. The light-fingered First, dedicated to Clara Schumann, the mercurial Second, dedicated to Robert Schumann, and the weighty Third with its gorgeous Romanze each display different facets of his engaging musical personality.

The acclaimed Danish violinist Hasse Borup and American pianist Heather Conner here make their Naxos début.

"All the pieces are played with great enthusiasm and what seems to me to be perfect technique. This is a landmark CD.” MusicWeb International on a previous release