Sterne mit den gold’nen Füsschen Op 4 No 1 reveals Stanford’s increasing deference to Brahms in its thorough working-out of the rising arpeggio figure at the opening, though the freer, more sinister closing gestures (‘war es der Geliebten Stimme, oder der Nachtigall?’) are more reminiscent of the Romantic effusions of Schumann.
from notes by Jeremy Dibble © 2000
