Product Overview
Hans Schmidt-Isserstedt - Hans Schmidt-Isserstedt Edition - Volume 1 (CD SET 14CD Box Set CD BOX SET)
The two stereo Beethoven cycles, those of the Symphonies (1965–70) and the Piano Concertos (with Wilhelm Backhaus, 1958–59), form the core of this edition of the complete Decca recordings of Hans Schmidt-Isserstedt (1900–1973). It is distinguished by the Wiener Philharmoniker’s unique transparency of sound allied to a firm pulse and rhythmic drive which characterized Schmidt-Isserstedt’s conducting. Several of the recordings were produced by Erik Smith, the conductor’s son.
Though it appears that he never stood in front of the Vienna Philharmonic in a concert, Hans Schmidt-Isserstedt achieved a remarkable rapport with a famously headstrong group of musicians when he conducted them in two stereo Beethoven cycles for Decca. In 1958–59 they recorded the piano concertos with Wilhelm Backhaus, as a stereo remake for the pianist’s mono Decca cycle with the Vienna Philharmonic and Clemens Krauss. Backhaus was in his late 70s by then, conveying a lifetime’s wisdom through his fingers while playing with apparently undimmed vitality.
The Decca producer for the concertos was the conductor’s son, Erik Smith, and a familial sense of mutual respect and understanding may be one reason for the success of the symphony cycle made between 1965 and 1970. Schmidt-Isserstedt harnesses the unique transparency of the Vienna Philharmonic sound with the firm pulse and rhythmic drive which had always distinguished his conducting. The set has rarely left the catalogue since it was issued, because its virtues have never gone out of fashion.
Schmidt-Isserstedt’s first recordings for Decca were made in the early 1950s, as founder-conductor of Hamburg Radio Symphony Orchestra, now known as the NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchestra. The ensemble began life after the war as a cultural project nurtured and supported by the British, and under Schmidt-Isserstedt’s dedicated coaching it quickly became one of the most admired orchestras Europe. Their recordings of Dvořák’s Seventh and Tchaikovsky’s Fifth symphonies were made in state-of-the-art Decca mono sound, produced by John Culshaw.
As the reputation of the NDR orchestra spread internationally during the 1960s, so did that of its conductor, who became a welcome and familiar presence in front of the London orchestras. He exerts gentle and sovereign authority over the London Symphony Orchestra on a 1967 album of Mozart concertos in partnership with Vladimir Ashkenazy.
This Eloquence set is issued with original covers and a new essay by Peter Quantrill on Hans Schmidt-Isserstedt and his Decca legacy.
TRACK LIST
CD 1
BEETHOVEN: Symphonies Nos. 1 & 2
Wiener Philharmoniker
CD 2
BEETHOVEN: Symphony No. 3 ‘Eroica’
Wiener Philharmoniker
CD 3
BEETHOVEN: Symphony No. 4
Overture ‘Die Weihe des Hauses’
Wiener Philharmoniker
CD 4
BEETHOVEN: Symphonies Nos. 5 & 8
Wiener Philharmoniker
CD 5
BEETHOVEN: Symphony No. 6 ‘Pastoral’
Overture ‘Egmont’
Wiener Philharmoniker
CD 6
BEETHOVEN: Symphony No. 7
Overture ‘Leonore No. 3’
Wiener Philharmoniker
CD 7
BEETHOVEN: Symphony No. 9 ‘Choral’
Joan Sutherland; Marilyn Horne; James King; Martti Talvela
Wiener Staatsopernchor
Wiener Philharmoniker
CD 8
BEETHOVEN: Piano Concertos Nos. 1 & 2
Wilhelm Backhaus
Wiener Philharmoniker
CD 9
BEETHOVEN: Piano Concertos Nos. 3 & 4
Wilhelm Backhaus
Wiener Philharmoniker
CD 10
BEETHOVEN: Piano Concerto No. 5 ‘Emperor’
Wilhelm Backhaus
Wiener Philharmoniker
CD 11
MOZART: Piano Concertos Nos. 20 & 6
Vladimir Ashkenazy
London Symphony Orchestra
CD 12
TCHAIKOVSKY: Symphony No. 5
Hamburg Radio Symphony Orchestra
CD 13
DVOŘÁK: Symphony No. 7
Hamburg Radio Symphony Orchestra
CD 14
DVOŘÁK: 4 Slavonic Dances
BRAHMS 7 Hungarian Dances
Hamburg Radio Symphony Orchestra
