Award-winning baritone Äneas Humm and his pianist Renate Rohlfing present equally flawless and distinctive performances on their album “Embrace”, encompassing songs by Franz Liszt, Edvard Grieg, Viktor Ullmann and Fanny Hensel. This selection of rarities from the art song repertoire draws together the different circumstances of four composers under the banner of a cohesive concept. Franz Liszt’s search for simplicity, Edvard Grieg’s desire for recognition beyond any reduction to nationalist stereotypes, Viktor Ullmann’s acts of composing against death and suffering at the concentration camp at Auschwitz, and Fanny Hensel’s emancipation from her brother Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy: “Embrace” encompasses all these stories, recounting situations of hope, fear, love and heartache.
The idea for this CD developed during a recording of the Fantasy No. 7, and quickly established its own momentum. What began as a spontaneous thought experiment soon demanded fulfilment, and morphed swiftly into the desire to take part in the reawakening of this music. What followed was months of intensive dialogue with, and examination of, the 12 Fantasies by Telemann. Having first studied modern cello Renate Mundi discovered her passion for baroque music, and for the viola da gamba in particular. Her enthusiasm for the special characteristics of the instrument, as well as her interest in source studies, including the search for undiscovered scores, was fostered by Prof.