Albumblätter (Album Leaves) for piano, Op. 124

The 20 small pieces that make up Robert Schumann's Albumblätter (Album leaves) for piano, Op. 124, were composed at varying times and under varying circumstances between around 1832 and 1845 (and thus actually pre-date the more famous Album for the Young, Op. 68, with which they have a great deal in common). By 1854, the year the Albumblätter were organized and published, Schumann's life, health, mind, and career were in complete disarray; the Albumblätter, though containing some beautiful, crystal-clear episodes, are basically uneven pieces that the composer had rejected from earlier character-piece collections, and it may be that Schumann's need to fill the void in his creative output and not a level-minded assessment of the pieces' musical merits, was the motivating factor in their eventual publication. The musical world invoked by the 20 pieces is as varied and rich as are the technical demands of these compositions. In Nos. 1 (Impromptu), 3 (Scherzino), 5 (Phantasietanz), 12 (Burla), 14 (Vision), and 17 (Elfe), we encounter something of that same rapid-tempo, quicksilver magic that marks many earlier pieces (Nos. 5 and 17, as well as No.4, one of several waltzes contained in the group, are all rejections from Carnaval; these three pieces are some of the collections' most attractive). The Schlummerlied (Slumber Song) at No.16 is of much greater length than most of its companion pieces -- some of which, like the charming Elfe, last a bare half-minute. Schlummerlied is a touching melody in 6/8 time. The central portion of its skeletal ABA form affords just 12 short bars of G minor to break the gently rolling E flat major on either side. Save for the short Canon, No.20, Schlummerlied is the latest piece of the group, having been composed during 1841. The dense texture and intricate voicings of the penultimate piece, a Phantasiestück, require a firm technical command of the instrument. The final Canon, though only sixteen bars in length and never wavering from D major, nevertheless takes some surprising, subtle twists and turns.