Robert Schumann’s technically demanding, emotionally wild and structurally unconventional eight-movement Kreisleriana, are inspired by the passionate, unpredictable Kapellmeister created by E.T.A. Hoffmann for three of his novels; but life then mirrored art when real-life violin virtuoso Fritz Kreisler (1875–1962) came along! Rachmaninoff’s Variations on a Theme of Corelli meanwhile are based on the La Folia theme Corelli used for his Violin Sonata No. 12. Penned in 1931, they contain pre-echoes of his Paganini Variations of 1934.