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.