Hans Schmidt-Isserstedt and the probity trap

Universal Australia, a record treasure hunter, brings together in two boxes accessible for import the recorded legacy of the German conductor Hans Schmidt-Isserstedt, whose history records that he conducted the first complete set of Beethoven’s symphonies recorded by the Vienna Philharmonic.

There is a gap between the respect given in Japan to this Berliner who immortalized Beethoven in Vienna and the oblivion which has gradually surrounded the legacy of Hans Schmidt-Isserstedt (1900-1973) in the West. This hiatus is due to a difference in the nature of the values ​​advocated in the West and in Asia (we use the word “Asia” in the broad sense here, because the Koreans also published, a few years ago, a large box set of the conductor’s concerts) .

In Japan, the conductor who had the honor of being chosen by Decca to record Beethoven’s nine symphonies with the Vienna Philharmonic in a complete piece dedicated to history was necessarily venerable, something we don’t care about here. Furthermore, rigor and probity, as well as the sense of well-maintained structures and well-made things, are a cardinal and esteemed value, while fantasy, surprise and the individuality of vision are more valued in our countries.

Distinction

Have we taken the wrong path? Universal Australia, on its Eloquence label, brings together Schmidt-Isserstedt’s discography in two box sets of 14 and 15 CDs. The first volume, entitled The Decca Recordingsincludes Beethoven’s nine symphonies, his five piano concertos with Wilhelm Backhaus, the Concertos^bone 6 And 20 of Mozart with the young Vladimir Ashkenazy and three discs recorded in Hamburg in 1953: the 5^e Symphony by Tchaikovsky, the 7^e by Dvořák and a selection of Slavic (Dvořák) and Hungarian (Brahms) dances.

Hamburg is “the” city associated with Schmidt-Isserstedt’s career. As he had not compromised with the Nazi party, the English occupation authorities asked him in 1945 to take charge of the Hamburg Radio Orchestra (today Editor’s note). He led it until 1971, built its reputation and was its most famous leader, later with Günter Wand and Christoph von Dohnányi.

This box set confirms that Hans Schmidt-Isserstedt was an aesthete, an architect of music, who aimed, as he said, “for balance of mind and heart”. In the 1950s, his two “signature” scores were the 7^e Symphony by Dvořák, here reissued, and the 2^e Symphony by Sibelius which, recorded for Parlophone, seems to have disappeared. His cycle of Beethoven concertos with Backhaus (1958-1959) remains a solid reference, still current, and when Decca had him record the Symphonies n^bone 3 And 9 by Beethoven, the success of the releases in 1966 was so great that the English label planned a complete cycle between October 1966 and June 1969. Schmidt-Isserstedt serves us the Viennese tradition in a velvet setting. His distinction is then opposed to the edges of George Szell and the foucades of Karajan. This wisdom is also its limit.

Rarities

In the second box set we find the Philips, Mercury and Deutsche Grammophon (DG) records. Another Apollonian Beethoven with the Violin Concerto by Szeryng, followed by 1^er Concerto by Brahms (his last recording, the month of his death), which Alfred Brendel banned on CD for so long, preferring his version with Abbado (but what direction, however, here in Amsterdam).

Philips brings together a dream cast (Cotrubas, Norman, Troyanos, Donath, Prey…) for the world premiere recording of the German version of The garden finta by Mozart. Mercury had Hans Schmidt-Isserstedt record the Symphonies n^bone 29 And 41 of Mozart and the 6^e by Schubert, while the best of the DG legacy is a coupling of the two serenades by Dvořák and the Concerto in G by Ravel with Monique Haas.

Cyrus Meher-Homji, the architect of these reissues, has not forgotten the three Accord-Musidisc CDs, now owned by Universal through the French subsidiary: 21 Hungarian dances by Brahms in Hamburg in 1962, invigorating but a little muted by a mediocre sound engineer, a poetic Scheherazade of Rimsky-Korsakov, who lacks grip, and the Symphonies n^bone 1 And 3 by Berwald engraved in 1962 in Stockholm, with, fortunately, the excellent Peter Willemoës in charge of the technique.

The first box is the largest, but the second contains more rarities. Almost everything that now remains to be reissued belongs to Warner, from the first prints of 1932 with the Berlin Philharmonic, when Schmidt-Isserstedt was a mainstay of the Telefunken catalog, to important symphonies (40^e by Mozart, 9^e from Dvořák, 6^e by Tchaikovsky) recorded for HMV, including the famous 2^e of Sibelius by Parlophone, a Bach record for Capitol and Idomenée for EMI.

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