“Songs and Waltzes of Love” April 23, 2011

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)

* More info on Thomas Quasthoff

Official Website: http://www.ums.org/s_current_season/artist.asp?pageid=630