In 1840, a proverbial Year of Song for a composer who had last written romantic songs when at school, Schumann was galvanised by his love for Clara Wieck and the prospect of his forthcoming marriage, to pour out almost 140 of his finest Lieder. The first disc in this new Naxos series of the complete Schumann Lieder features two of the most popular cycles, Dichterliebe (‘Poet’s Love’), completed in just one week at the end of May, and Liederkreis (‘Song Cycle’). Inspired by the poetry of unrequited love in Heine’s Buch der Lieder, these settings are notable for their romantic sensibility and ironic sophistication.