Based on the recorded evidence, if you want spirited and insightful performances of eastern European romantic orchestral repertoire,
Gianandrea Noseda is the conductor of choice. In his previous discs of Liszt's tone poems and Dvorák's concertos for violin and for piano, the young Italian conductor had turned in effective and affecting performances of works that get little attention from most international conductors. And in what is described as Vol. 1 of the complete orchestral works of Smetana,
Noseda proves himself adept at works that get little to no attention from almost all conductors. Yet
Noseda proves there's more to Smetana than Má Vlast: there's also the thrilling Wallenstein's Camp, the exciting Richard III, and the bombastic Hakon Jarl. In these strong and colorful performances by the
BBC Philharmonic,
Noseda finds all the drama, lyricism, and ethnic beauty in the music and expresses it in waves of gorgeously glowing sound. One cannot say the same of the remainder of the works on this disc. Though there are often moments and occasional pages of fine music to be found here, these are at best minor works from the Czech master's workshop, and
Noseda and the
BBC Philharmonic's performances, fine as they are, cannot make good their deficiencies. Still, for a disc of Smetana's tone poems, this one rivals the best of previous releases: the glorious
Rafael Kubelik disc with the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra on Deutsche Grammophon. And though Chandos' digital sound is no clearer or more colorful than DG's stereo sound, it is bigger and louder.