Every so often a recording arrives that quietly rearranges the furniture of the repertoire. For me, the new edition of Fanny Mendelssohn Hensel's solo piano music is one of those moments. Hänssler Classic has released the first volume of pianist Ana-Marija Markovina's survey of Hensel's complete solo piano works, and it is the kind of project that makes you want to clear an afternoon, sit at the instrument, and listen with the score open.
According to the release details, Markovina follows acclaimed traversals of the complete solo piano works of Felix Mendelssohn and CPE Bach with this new Hensel series, and the timing feels right.
Why this recording matters
There is a particular thrill in hearing music that has simply never been committed to disc before. The four-disc set contains 78 tracks, around half of which have never been recorded. For a composer of Hensel's quality, that statistic should give us pause. We are still, in 2026, discovering first recordings of a major nineteenth-century voice.
The digital release went live worldwide on 15 May 2026, with physical CDs following in North America on 19 June 2026. That short gap between streaming and disc is its own small story about how we listen now, but the substance is the music itself.
A composer in her own right
Fanny Mendelssohn Hensel was the elder sister of Felix, and for much of her life her work circulated under his name or stayed within the family salon. Hearing the piano music gathered in one place changes the picture. These are not sketches or curiosities. They are finished, idiomatic, deeply felt pieces that belong on recital programmes alongside the songs without words we already know and love.
What strikes me most is how naturally the writing sits under the hand. The textures sing. The harmonic turns are personal, sometimes restless, always purposeful. This is music that understands the piano as a voice, not just a machine for notes.
What it means for performers
For working pianists, a complete edition like this is a gift and a quiet challenge. A gift because it hands us a body of repertoire ready to be explored. A challenge because once the music is available and recorded, the old excuse - that we did not know it, that the scores were hard to find - no longer holds.
I think often about how programmes get built. We reach for the familiar because audiences trust it and because our hands already know the way. But the most rewarding evenings I have spent at the piano, both as a player and a listener, are the ones where something unexpected sits next to something beloved. A Hensel character piece beside a Schubert impromptu. A newly heard voice answering an old friend across the centuries.
Listening with fresh ears
If you are new to Hensel, my suggestion is simple. Do not approach her as a footnote to her brother. Listen to a few of these pieces on their own terms, without comparison, and let the music make its own case. It does so easily.
In my own concerts and chamber programmes I try to leave room for exactly this kind of discovery, weaving lesser-known voices into the recital alongside the great pillars of the repertoire. If you would like to explore that mix of the familiar and the freshly uncovered, I warmly invite you to browse upcoming concerts or get in touch about an engagement. There is nothing I enjoy more than introducing an audience to music they did not know they were waiting to hear.
A recording like this does not just fill a gap in a discography. It restores a composer to the conversation. Fanny Mendelssohn Hensel waited a long time for her complete piano edition. The least we can do now is play her.
