Matters of the Heart - a journey through women's love and life opus 42 (Adelbert von Chamisso) by Robert Schumann (1810 to 1856), combined with songs and piano works by Robert Schumann and Richard Strauss (1864 to 1949). A project by soprano Sarah Brady and pianist Stephen Delaney.Singer Sarah Brady says of the genesis of the album:

"We grasped the idea of a CD entitled "Matters of the Heart" in the spring of 2020, at the time of the first lockdown during the Covid 19 pandemic. Stephen made the suggestion to put together a concert program for future performances.

Women's Love and Life had been on my mind earlier, as I had wanted to work on this cycle since college. So it was soon clear that we both wanted to rehearse these Schumann songs. But what should we add?

Stephen initially thought of a combination of several composers in the sense of a crossover album - including songs by the Beatles, for example! We came up with several program ideas and ultimately thought songs by Richard Strauss were best suited to expand on the emotional themes of the Schumann songs."