This ninth volume in the Hyperion Schumann Edition brings us to music Schumann wrote for children, and what a delight it proves to be. The Op 79 Liederalbum für die Jugend—twenty-nine songs and duets composed in 1849—leads us on a journey through Schumann’s affinity with the mind and imagination of the musical child, a journey which here is sensitively puntuated by fifteen items from the Op 68 piano collection Klavieralbum für die Jugend. The complementary effect of the two makes for a satisfying, and generously filled, CD.

As ever, the disc is accompanied by a weighty essay on the music and its background from Graham Johnson.

Most of the music on this album is also available as part of the specially priced box set Schumann: The Complete Songs: 'A landmark issue no serious collector should be without' (The Mail on Sunday).