Sieben Fragmente für Orchester

This most frequently played orchestral work by Aribert Reimann quotes from and makes use of Robert Schumann's last finished composition, the so-called 'Geistervariationen' [Ghost Variations] in E flat major for piano from 1854, composed shortly before Schumann's suicide attempt. Reflecting on Schumann's subsequent life in Endenich, Reimann leaves the lyrical character of the original unchanged. But the breaking up of the theme into the third, fifth and seventh fragments symbolizes the transition from dreamy imagination to sickly brooding.