Album sheets, trifles, bagatelles, simple short pieces, encores conceived as such or adapted for the purpose of an encore, and often confined exclusively to that no-man’s-land: the miniatures on the programme – both originals and transcriptions – tell stories both small and grand, placing them centre stage (auch kleine Dinge… to quote Hugo Wolf). In just a few bars and with extraordinary effectiveness, they yield to expressions that are by turns light-hearted and profoundly deep...... effortlessly inhabiting that moment when the more relaxed performers and the audience – not yet having fled in search of the last underground train, the actual concert having concluded – allow themselves something else, elsewhere and in any case afterwards: like the closing credits, the dessert, the acknowledgements at the end of a book. In this regard, Fritz Kreisler, born Friedrich Max, holds a special place, beloved by performers and listeners alike, who are more than happy to hear his most famous pieces again, some even able to recognise them without them being announced (as a subtle act of revenge on the part of some…).