Wilhelm Killmayer puts a single note at the heart of this composition. But whereas Robert Schumann took it as the starting point of his romanticism, Killmayer doesn’t allow himself the freedom to develop poetic melodies. Just as Schumann deliberately decided to live within the constraints of a mental asylum in Endenich, Killmayer favours the constraints of a very limited tonal space. Recurring seconds in the piano part illustrate the confines in the life of the ill composer. Even the addit...