Rheinlegendchen is the most charming and delightful of the many Ländler among the
Wunderhorn songs, so successful at its first performance that the audience demanded an encore. In addition to the inevitable harmonization in thirds and sixths, the piano interludes incorporate elements of folk-fiddle improvisation. An inspired descent to the subdominant, as the mower’s ring sinks into the waters of the Rhine, is the most graphic of a number of startling key-shifts in this otherwise apparently simple song.
from notes by Roger Vignoles © 2008
