Mikael Rasmussen writes:

>I recently heard Haruko Seki play Kinderszenen in Bath.  I never heard
>the complete suite before, but the pieces do fit very well together.

In fact, the entire cycle is bound together by its first five notes --
"B-G-F#-E-D." That figure, or some version of it (the sixth reduced to a
fourth), appears in many of the thirteen pieces.  (The recitative in the
middle of "The Poet Speaks" also quotes the opening of "Aufschwung" from
Schumann's Op.  12.) This was first pointed out to me many years ago in a
lecture by my beloved piano literature teacher, Joseph Bloch.  It's just
one of the many hidden details which make Schumann so fascinating.  I
could go on and on, but gotta practice.

DPHorn, Schumann addict.