For this release, Oehms Classics was able to convince the House of Hessen to engage in a small cooperation because the works heard on this CD were personally dedicated to Princess Anna von Hessen.

Rainer von Hessen has written the following in his preface to this production: 'To the best of my knowledge, this is the first time that both chamber works Op. 34 by Johannes Brahms have been united on the same CD: his only Piano Quintet and the Sonata for Two Pianos. Previously, both works could be heard at a concert with the duo pianists Lucia Huang and Sebastian Euler (Duo d'Accord) as well as the Hába Quartet at the baroque Fasanerie Palace near Fulda. With this rather unusual programme combination, a long harboured wish came true for me, namely to hear both works dedicated by Brahms to Princess Anna von Hessen (my great-grandmother) performed on the same evening: the Sonata for Two Pianos in F minor and the Piano Quintet, that resulted from it. This enabled us to sense how the composer increased the sonic attractiveness of his composition by means of refined instrumentation, hardly changing anything else'