The internationally celebrated, Grammy Award-winning Pacifica Quartet joins forces with legendary pianistMenahem Pressler of the Beaux Arts Trio for Johannes Brahms’s Piano Quintet in F Minor, Op. 34, a pillar ofGerman Romanticism that opens with one of the most recognizable melodies in classical music. Pressler, aconsummate chamber artist, performs the virtuosic piano part with a clarity and transparency that makes thepiano seem like a fellow member of the string ensemble.

This noteworthy generation-crossing collaboration — a half-century separates the pianist, who is in his 90s,from the quartet members — yields a spacious, sweeping traversal of the Brahms Quintet that sets its ownpace to build suspense and drama. While Pressler has performed the Brahms Quintet with marquee stringquartets of the past 50 years, this is his first recording of it.

The album offers the unusual, perhaps unprecedented, pairing of Brahms’s early Piano Quintet with astring quartet by his champion Robert Schumann, in this case, the String Quartet in A Minor, Op. 41, No.1,which the Quartet has been performing since early in its career. Dedicated to Mendelssohn, this buoyant,sprightly Romantic quartet showcases the Pacifica’s virtuosity and exuberant performance style while offeringa contrast to Brahms’s moodier masterwork. This is the Quartet’s first recording of a Schumann work.