Hans Schmidt-Isserstedt was one of those reliable, well-trained, eminently musical German conductors who enjoyed a distinguished career in his homeland but never made much of an impression internationally. He’s best represented by a first rate Beethoven cycle with the Vienna Philharmonic recorded by Decca, and recently re-released in the UK on the “Headline Classics” series. His performance of the Ninth Symphony was and remains one of the very best, a tribute to an artist capable of great things. All of which begs the question: Are these Mahler symphonies “great things” also? The short answer is: “No.” There is, however, plenty of evidence of Schmidt-Isserstedt’s podium skill and positive artistic personality. In the First Symphony, for example, there’s his daringly slow tempo for the scherzo, and the superb fury with which the finale erupts; there’s the way the strings really dig into their parts, and the perfectly judged tempo fluctuations in the opening pages. Indeed, he’s a far more idiomatic Mahlerian than any other German conductor from the 1960s whose performances have been preserved on disc. Yet in the final analysis, these versions don’t offer enough in the way of either great playing or interpretive uniqueness to make them competitive in today’s crowded market. As historical documents, I found them fascinating specifically because they show Schmidt-Isserstedt so comfortable in this music and so able to communicate his intentions to his Hamburg band. Ironically, it’s just this fact that makes them unnecessary now, particularly given stereo and mono broadcast sound of no great distinction. For Mahler completists and fans of the conductor only.
