Mariya Kim, the pianist on this album, was born in Sevastopol, Ukraine, into a family of musicians and began studying piano at age six.
Mariya Kim has won numerous international piano competitions, including First Prize at the 2008 Seoul International Music Competition.
Schumann was inspired to create his Paganini Caprices arrangements after hearing the virtuoso violinist Niccolò Paganini perform in Frankfurt in 1830.
Schumann married Clara Wieck, a pianist of prodigious talent, in 1840 after her father's legal attempts to prevent the marriage failed.
Schumann's Humoreske, Op. 20, includes a section with an unplayed inner voice, possibly a reference to his then-secret engagement to Clara Wieck.
Robert Schumann, the composer, was the son of a bookseller, publisher, and writer, and showed an early interest in literature.
Schumann's ambitions as a pianist were thwarted by a finger weakness, leading him to focus on composition.
