Fanny Hensel’s String Quartet in Eb major is a hidden gem that is only recently, nearly 200 years after its composition, receiving the recognition it deserves within the string quartet repertoire. Hensel’s brilliance as a composer was often overlooked due to her status as a woman in the 1800’s. This work was neither performed or published in Hensel’s lifetime, like many of her other works, offering a unique challenge. The lack of editorial finishings in terms of bowings, phrasings and dynamics, a result of Hensel’s artistic suppression, leave today’s musicians with many choices to make; we found this both freeing and complexly challenging, with ideas an perspectives that will likely evolve with time.

Aestus Quartet

Leda Mileto - Violin I

Christopher Karwacinski - Violin II

Beth Willett - Viola

Clara Hope Simposon - Cello