Classical Song in Stuttgart

For a southern German city of just over 500,000 inhabitants, Stuttgart, in the state of Baden-Württemberg, shows remarkably little signs of a relaxed, dolce far niente attitude. As a center for high tech industry, the presence of such corporate heavyweights as Daimler, Porsche, and Bosch ensures that the city’s pace remains rapid and businesslike. Mornings, a slew of grey-garbed office employees scurry across Stuttgart’s peaceful parks, frenetically chain-smoking, too busy to stop and appreciate natural wonders like the Wilhelma Zoo and Botanical Garden, a Moorish-style folly built around 1850. There are cultural wonders here too, and although Stuttgart boasts accomplished ballet, symphony, and opera companies, its crown jewel is undoubtedly the small but overachieving Hugo-Wolf-Internationale Academie, a center for the study and performance of classical song (lieder), where I recently sat on a panel of judges for its renowned lieder contest, the “International Competition for the Art of Lied.”The Hugo-Wolf-Internationale Academie, named after the composer (1860–1903) who spent part of his short lifetime there, is currently directed by the pianist Hartmut Höll, the longtime accompanist of the legendary German baritone Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, (noted for having made more recordings — over 1,000 at last count — than any other classical musician in history). Mr. Fischer-Dieskau, now 82, is scheduled to give another of his series of acclaimed master classes in singing this November under the Akademie’s auspices. Last year the Akademie lost another of its famed teachers when the soprano Elisabeth Schwarzkopf died at age 91.Mr. Höll’s concern as Akademie director is to help nurture the next generation of great lieder interpreters. For over three decades, he has concertized and recorded with the remarkable Japanese-born mezzo-soprano Mitsuko Shirai, and their series of CDs for the outstanding small label Capriccio of music by Mozart, Schubert, Schumann, Brahms, and Berg are among the most compelling in the history of recording. Ms. Shirai’s smoldering intensity — she has been called the “Maria Callas of classical song” — blends with Mr. Höll’s spiky, highly individual pianism. Together their performances, even of beloved songs, are never comfy or cozy. In Schubert’s late song cycle “Die Winterreise,” also on CD from Capriccio, they bring out a wholly modern, hallucinatory despair, yet never stretch the music out of shape, as less disciplined musicians may do.These uniquely talented performers and teachers — Ms. Shirai also instructs students at Karlsruhe and around the world in master classes — are ideally positioned to help lieder flourish. Mr. Höll, a native of the neighboring city of Heilbronn, leans heavily on the rich literary past of Baden-Württemberg, scheduling concerts at Hölderlin’s Tower in Tübingen, a university town a stone’s throw away, where the Romantic poet Friedrich Hölderlin (1770–1843) spent his latter years, producing fascinating writings despite apparent mental illness. German romanticism often seems to teeter on the brink of dementia — Wolf and Schumann also famously went mad, probably as a result of syphilis — and this year’s Akademie season also offers the world premiere next March of a new song cycle by the wild old man of European lieder, Wilhelm Killmayer. The Munich-born Mr. Killmayer, now 80, creates classical music that is both expressive and eccentric, like an Edvard Munch of music, although Killmayer’s compositions are still scandalously little-known outside Germany. Helping to uncover talents of this nature, both young and old, is Mr. Höll’s mission, and this year’s “International Competition for the Art of Lied” focuses on three composers: Schumann, Wolf, and the local Stuttgart composer and pianist Hermann Reutter (1900–1985). I was delighted to be asked to sit on the panel of nine judges this year, alongside Ms. Shirai and the noted Dutch recording engineer and producer Teije van Geest who, among many other projects, engineered the classic series of Bach Cantatas recorded by Nikolaus Harnoncourt and Gustav Leonhardt for Teldec, a landmark in the history of the gramophone. Diminutive Ms. Shirai is a bundle of energy and good humor, despite a recent scarifying bout of Guillain-Barré syndrome (GBS), a paralyzing ailment contracted several months ago in England. Happily, she is well on the road to full recovery and has scheduled a performance of Schubert’s “Winterreise” this coming April at Stuttgart’s Linden-Museum, of course accompanied by Mr. Höll. This kind of grit and determination, combined with artistic excellence, has drawn a variety of applicants to this competition, some 44 lieder duets from 25 countries, including China, Israel, Australia, Turkey, Romania, and Lithuania, who will compete for a prize of 40,000 euros. While the total prize money is not inconsiderable, it is clear that the entrants are mostly motivated by love of lieder rather than desire for fame and/or money.Lieder is a slow art, which requires savoring poems in German, French, and other European languages, and then concentrating on how composers expand the emotions inherent in these poems by setting them to music. It is a quintessentially private art, but it can be shared in public, and enthusiastic audiences crowd every stage of the competition.The first rounds are held at Stuttgart’s Musikhochschule (Conservatory of Music), a cheery postmodern pile designed by the British architect James Stirling. With a round yellow tower evoking both Babel and an art-deco ocean liner, Mr. Stirling’s building attracts lieder fans of all ages who listen devotedly as the 44 teams play and sing through four songs apiece, and then are quickly winnowed down to only 18 duets. Consoling the losers, one of the jurors, the distinguished German journalist and broadcaster Norbert Ely, reminded a keyboard virtuoso to preserve a ludic spirit, since musicians are “said to play the piano, not work the piano.” Another juror, the multitalented Swiss composer and pianist Daniel Fueter, rector of the Zurich School of Music, Drama and Dance, offered more detailed advice about phrasing and pedaling to the pianists. And Ms. Shirai’s comments were eagerly noted down by some singers, clearly gratified to hear a voice of experience discussing their own artistic hopes.The competition continues until October 7, at which point a winner, or winners, will be announced. But already, the city of Stuttgart is the real winner, offering a cultural gem like the Hugo-Wolf-Internationale and its lieder competition.

Classical Song in Stuttgart

Classical Song in Stuttgart

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