An elementary remark, but the immediate reaction to the first sound of the voice is simply ''This man is a singer''; and that is a good start. The records themselves are likely to be new to collectors outside Germany, even if the singer is not. Hans Hermann Nissen (not to be confused, as the notes remind us, with Hanns-Heinz of that name, a lyric baritone ten years our Nissen's junior) is remembered principally for his part in the Third Act of Die Meistersinger under Bohm (recorded in 1938 and now available on Pearl), its length displayed to our wondering eyes in the old catalogue as we counted up roughly as many 78s as would accommodate the whole of La boheme. In that set he was generally felt to be a sound rather than a memorable Hans Sachs, and such, on the whole, was the critical assessment when he last sang at Covent Garden in 1934 (''a little light, but skilful'' in Walkure, ''vocally not superlative'' in Siegfried, according to The Times). Yet he was a stayer – not at Covent Garden, or the Metropolitan where he had a season just before the outbreak of war, but in Munich where he sang for 40 years, retiring at the age of 74 in 1967. The records give a corresponding impression: the voice has changed little between 1929 and 1939, and at that latter date sounds good for at least another decade or so.
The earlier recordings (1927-9) are from Homocord, rarely found over here. They show a fine, resonant voice and a lively style. He is at his best in the aria from Hans Heiling, exuberant in its enthusiasm but always well-controlled and sensitive to the musical line. Valentin's aria in Faust is taken a whole tone down, where he seems perfectly at ease with the high notes, but none too happy with the low ones. His Wagner (Dutchman, Sachs, Wotan, Amfortas) has not the poetry and mellowness of Schorr's or the ample power of Hotter's, but everything is well focused and one feels it would project. The Electrola recordings of 1939 present him in a rather disappointing choice of Lieder, cleanly rather than imaginatively performed but always fine in tone and legato. He is a singer: the first impression was quite right, and the initial pleasure lasts throughout the recital.'