This disc features rarely heard arrangements for violin and piano made by Johannes Brahms of his two clarinet sonatas opus 120, as well as the F.A.E. Sonata on which he collaborated with Robert Schumann and Albert Dietrich.

The music is performed by the Finnish duo of violinist Annemarie Aström and pianist Terhi Dostal. On the recording the latter plays the composer’s own grand piano.

Brahms’ two sonatas op 120 are well-known as pieces written for clarinet and piano as well as in an arrangement for viola and piano. The versions presented here however are for violin and piano, and although made by the composer himself were until recently unknown. It appears that Brahms showed a great deal of interest in this arrangement and introduced many interesting alterations to the violin parts.

The F.A.E. Sonata was Robert Schumann's idea as a gift and tribute to the violinist Joseph Joachim. It is a collaborative piece written by Brahms, Schumann himself, and Schumann’s pupil Albert Dietrich, all of whom were close friends of Joachim. Joachim had adopted the Romantic German phrase “Frei aber einsam” (free but lonely) as his personal motto, and the composition's movements are all based on the musical notes F-A-E, the motto’s initials, as a musical cryptogram.