About the Work:

This lovely, unjustly neglected work should have become part of the mainstream repertoire long ago. Based on a Persian legend retold by Irish poet Thomas Moore, the story is an endearing mixture of Western and Eastern religion. Setting a Christian vision of Heaven in Allah's garden, it tells of the Peri who must be cleansed by compassion and undaunted personal effort to be admitted to Paradise. The music is basically lyrical, tender, and serene but encompasses the depths and heights of intensity, lamentation, devotion, ecstasy, and triumph.
—from Edith Eisler, Amazon editorial reviewer

About the Composer:

Robert Schumann was one of the most significant figures in 19th century German musical Romanticism. Schumann excelled in writing lyrical piano music and songs, but also composed notable orchestral, chamber and choral works. An intellectual as well as an aesthete, his music, more than any other composer, reflects the deep personal nature of Romanticism. Introspective and often whimsical, his early music was an attempt to break with the tradition of classical forms and structure which he thought too restrictive. Little understood in his lifetime, much of his music is now regarded as daringly original in harmony, rhythm and form. He stands in the front rank of German Romantics.