These are classic performances, even if they are not necessarily “the best” at this date. Still, they have more than enough unique features for collectors and fans of Talich, including a particularly powerful climax to the first movement of the Seventh Symphony, a really exciting finale, and of course the remarkable character of the Czech Philharmonic. In the Sixth, you can have an interpretation of even greater distinction with the same orchestra in terrific stereo sound if you go for Ancerl on this same label, and in general the limited 1938 sonics (foggy timpani, attenuated bass, congested fortes) are a drawback. But the remastering has been sensitively done, without too much noise reduction–so the high frequencies survive pretty much intact, and the positive musical qualities certainly outweigh any sonic negatives.
