Lieder's Dynamic Duo

By the time of the 1992 CD of Alban Berg's songs, Shirai's voice had ripened noticeably. Even more impressive was 1993's Schumann lieder CD opening with Widmung (Dedication). Shirai and Holl avoid all the usual pitfalls, and their performances make raw emotional statements. The familiar Der Nussbaum sounds new when delivered with such freshness. There are few lieder more often performed than Richard Strauss's Morgen, but its performance on the 1994 Shirai/Holl CD (10497) is exceptional, focusing on the music alone, leaving the song unadorned and direct. This CD also includes Strauss rarities like Kramerspiegel - settings of satiric doggerel by Alfred Kerr. The duo's live performances often include humorous material, carried off with great panache, and it would be delightful to have more.

In 1995 Shirai and Holl made a trio album with Tabea Zimmermann (mentioned above), and CDs of the under-rated Robert Franz, Mahler, Schoenberg, and Hugo Wolf. There have been other great Shirai-Holl projects, such as the recording of Wolf's incomplete opera Manuel Venegas. The couple headlined a festival for the Cultural Capital of Europa 1999 Weimar entitled Naturlaut/Menschenlaut (Nature Sounds/ Human Sounds).

For autumn 2000 they are preparing a Songbook of the Century festival. They have made frequent trips to Japan, where in Tokyo recently they were engaged for six years of annual recitals in Kioi Hall. Recent live performance highlights have been in Helsinki (a Schumann-Wolf program), at the Rheingau Festival and the Schleswig Holstein Festival ( both with Goethe programs). In France they performed a program in memory of Chopin (songs by Szymanowski, Chopin, Liszt, and Strauss). For Stuttgart they plan to perform Fauré's La Bonne Chanson with the Auryn Quartet and Shirai will perform the neglected songs of Robert Kahn for voice and piano trio. Forthcoming CDs will be devoted to songs by Anton Webern and Ferruccio Busoni, as ever on the Capriccio label.

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