Genia Kühmeier, soprano Bernarda Fink, mezzo-soprano Michael Schade, tenor Thomas Quasthoff, bass-baritone Malcolm Martineau, piano Justus Zeyen, piano

After nearly a decade in which he composed no vocal music at all, Schumann made a striking return to the genre with the Spanische Liebeslieder song collection, which combines songs for solo voice with duets and quartets. A generation later, Brahms took the same instrumentation – vocal quartet plus four-hand piano – and composed the Liebeslieder and Neue Liebeslieder Waltzes. These three works serve as the centerpiece of a program that also includes Brahms' composition for vocal quartet and piano, performed by an unparalleled quartet of musicians, including bass-baritone Thomas Quasthoff, who last appeared at UMS in a Lydia Mendelssohn Theatre recital in 2000.

Program · Schumann : Spanische Liebeslieder, Op. 138 (1849) · Brahms : Liebeslieder Waltzes, Op. 52 (1868-69) · Brahms : Four Songs from Quartets for Four Voices and Pianos, Ops. 64 & 92 (1862-84) · Brahms : Neue Liebeslieder Waltzes, Op. 65 (1874)