Kinderszenen, Op. 15 (Schumann)

1. Von fremden Ländern und Menschen 2. Kuriose Geschichte 3. Hasche-Mann 4. Bittendes Kind 5. Glückes genug 6. Wichtige Begebenheit 7. Träumerei 8. Am Kamin 9. Ritter vom Steckenpferd 10. Fast zu ernst 11. Fürchtenmachen 12. Kind im Einschlummern 13. Der Dichter spricht From the artists: What distinguishes this piece as something truly unique and timeless, in our estimation, is the presence of the final movement, in which the subject is no longer a portrait of a childhood scene but the very poet who speaks. This breaking of the fourth wall is, poetically and philosophically, extremely powerful because it transforms the work from a depiction of childhood into a reflection on it. The rhetoric of the poet, controlled and calm yet full of nostalgia, allows us to make our own relationship to “childhood” explicit and conscious. It is no coincidence that poets tend to venerate the young. The reason is that children, in their trust, in their excitement, in their astonishment, and in their confidence that something great and beautiful is just around the corner, hold something that many of us have lost. Our yearning to retrieve that wonderful disposition in which everything is either terrifying or awesome is reflected in the poet’s monologue at the end of the piece. And thereby, Schumann reveals to us the following truth: that we are living in the circular pursuit of an eternal beginning. Regarding the arrangement, we were pleased to discover how natural everything felt on our guitars. Although we did not restrain ourselves from using many arrangement “tricks” in order to render the best musical result possible, we feel as though it’s one of those rare pieces that truly could have been written for guitar duo.