Carnaval is characteristic of Schumann's highly individual youthful romanticism and requires musical maturity for performance. Written for advanced pianists, it is a series of glimpses enveloped in the atmosphere of a masked ball with titles such as "Arlequin," "Papillons," "Sphinxes," "Coquette" and so on.

Most of the 23 pieces are based on the notes A-S-C-H, arranged in a succession of melodic and rhythm patterns ("s" is German for E-flat, "h" is German for B-natural). Asch was a Bohemian t...