Hartmut Höll

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Among the post-Gerald Moore, post-Geoffrey Parsons accompanists, Hartmut Höll has attracted attention as a collaborator with his own ideas about singer/accompanist partnerships. With his wife, mezzo soprano Mitsuko Shirai, and with Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau during the final years of the baritone's long career, Höll has demonstrated an often grittier approach, although some critics have felt him less polished than his predecessors. Höll, nonetheless, has shown a readiness to explore the outer edges of the song literature, frequently bringing into new focus lyric works by lesser, or less well-known, composers. At the Stuttgart Conservatory, where Höll was pursuing his studies in the 1970s, he met his future wife. Shirai, though born in Japan, had acquired great facility in German and her interest in literature attracted the activist temperament of the young pianist. As a student of composer/accompanist Hermann Reutter, Höll was afforded the opportunity of serving as accompanist for master classes being given by Elisabeth Schwarzkopf. The great singer was impressed by both Höll's work for her classes and by his performances with Shirai. In the early '80s, Höll came to the attention of another great lieder artist and became Fischer-Dieskau's regular accompanist. He remained with the baritone for 14 years, providing probing and conscientious support amidst Fischer-Dieskau's occasional projects with concert pianists less adept at collaboration. In recordings and one extant video,

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