These are impressive performances, with one exception: the stiff, lumbering rendering of the Scherzo capriccioso (that nevertheless offers some interesting textural detail), which also is sonically the weakest item on an otherwise fine-sounding collection. But that leaves nearly an hour of really distinguished music-making, all featuring the Czech Philharmonic in top form. Václav Neumann’s version of the Hussite Overture probably is the best of the “majestic” ones–for a swifter view there’s always Kubelik, but Neumann’s is gorgeously played and truly heroic in conception. My Home is lively and poetic, and the Czech Suite, with its ravishing woodwind writing, is simply a joy from first note to last, while the surprisingly sensuous (for Dvorák) Nocturne in B major for strings is wonderfully atmospheric and evocative. In short, there are plenty of good versions of the Scherzo capriccioso (including the recent Mackerras on Supraphon), so get this disc for the other items and you’ll be very glad that you did.
