The 15 romances from Ludwig Tieck’s Magelone represent Johannes Brahms’ only true song cycle. With his reputation as an ideal accompanist it is clear that Brahms was extremely familiar with the examples of his predecessors Beethoven, Schubert and Schumann, and as such was able to convey an authenticity of feeling with this work. Set in medieval times, Die schöne Magelone is a wonderfully epic yarn in which Count Peter falls in love and elopes with the fair Magelone, leading to disaster and dramas equalling that of any romantic opera.