Desert Chorale sampled the music of South America in its first program of the 2024 season, and it reached into the cosmos with words from astronomer Johannes Kepler in its second. But if you like a little more meat-and-potatoes choral repertoire, the group has saved the best for last.

Joshua Habermann, artistic director for Desert Chorale, says The Great Romantics — which features the work of Johannes Brahms and other European composers — is the most traditional of the season.

“As much as we talk about new commissions, we also love performing things that are in the canon,” he says, “including 19th-century German music. There’s just something that’s so beautiful about it. I’m completely obsessed with Johannes Brahms, so his music bookends this program.”

The program starts with a trio of Brahms’ works. First comes a motet titled “Why is Light Given to those in Misery?” Pianist Nathan Salazar then plays the composer’s Intermezzo in A Major, followed by four selections from his Gypsy Songs (Zigeunerlieder), which Habermann describes as “showpieces.”

“We wanted to feature Nathan,” says Habermann of the intermezzo. “Not only are Desert Chorale great singers, but we have great collaborating artists too. We want to feature them as soloists from time to time.”

Three segments from religious works by Josef Rheinberger, Franz Herzog, and Frank Martin follow, with Habermann describing it as “a mini-Mass” of their own creation. The concert’s third section features music from two of the 19th-century’s greatest composers of German song, Franz Schubert and Robert Schumann.

Then it’s back to Brahms for the final section, starting with his Festival and Commemoration Sayings. While the work’s three texts are Biblical verses, the composer chose them to reflect the recent unification of Germany in 1871.

The finale is the “Wiegenlied,” Op. 49, No. 4, although we all know it better as Brahms’ “Lullaby.” “It’s joyous. It’s full. It’s rich,” Habermann says. “It’s the kind of piece that no choir can do unless they have the forces of the Desert Chorale.” — S.F.

details

The Great Romantics

• 4 p.m. Sunday, July 28; 7:30 p.m. August 2
• Cathedral Basilica of St. Francis of Assisi
• 131 Cathedral Place
• $10-$114
• 505-988-2282; desertchorale.org