Hungarian Radio Symphony Orchestra

One of the most fascinating compositions by Schumann, his oratorio inspired by fairy tales, actually started out in a way appropriate to a fairy tale. The librettist noted his crucial meeting with the composer thus: “When I walked into his room with my Peri in my pocket, I found him in the happiest of moods; he had only just got married, and was still more or less on honeymoon. He cried out, delighted: ‘I'm enjoying work so much now, I’d like to do something quite special – I’d really like to go East, to the rose gardens of Persia, to the palm groves of India, oh, it’s as if someone was going to bring me the theme that takes me there.’ I stood in front of him astounded, I could barely comprehend how he could have described so unambiguously exactly what was in my pocket and which I had wanted to give him.”