Smetana: Má Vlast

MUSIC
Jimmy Hughes
Jun 02, 2026

No conductor was more closely associated with Má Vlast than Rafael Kubelik. Smetana, in his cycle of six Symphonic Poems, pays homage to his Czech homeland. Kubelik – a Czech Émigré who left his country in 1948 – made five complete recordings of the work between 1952 and 1990.

His Boston account was taped in March 1971, and released on two LPs in September that same year. It was Kubelik’s third recording of the work, and his first meeting on record with the Boston Symphony. It also seems to have been the BSO’s first and only recording of the piece.

Symphony Hall, Boston, has exceptional acoustics that produce a sound with wonderful tonal richness. Heinz Wildhagen, Kubelik’s regular Tonmeister, often used just a couple of Neumann stereo mics, rather than a complex multi-mic set-up. Certainly, spatial perspectives sound very natural in this recording.

Kubelik’s Má Vlast was recorded on four-track 1/2in tape – two tracks for the main front channels, and two tracks for ambience. For this new 180g vinyl reissue, DG have gone back to the original four-track master. However, to use this tape to cut LPs, they had to modify their four-track tape deck by adding a preview head which warns the disc cutter of loud/quiet passages ahead so it can vary the pitch of the grooves.

This enabled DG to avoid further copying that would erode the pristine quality of the original tapes, and mix the four tracks keeping everything in the analogue domain. As a result, the sound is cleaner and better focused than ever before, with greater clarity and transparency.

The ambience is more convincingly portrayed, and you sense the hall’s air and space better. Overall, the reproduction is quite a bit fresher, with more fine detail, better instrumental delineation, and a firmer, deeper, better-defined bass.

Among all the many recordings of Smetana’s Má Vlast, Kubelik’s Boston Symphony version has long been my favourite. A great performance with lovely sound, I played it many times before hearing another version.

In Kubelik’s DG recording, reverberation from the loud passage carries on over the quiet part for a second or so – something that wouldn’t happen in a drier acoustic. The effect is thrilling; a brief magical moment that has no equal in any other recording.

Also, in the same movement, the passage depicting water nymphs in the moonlight (around 5m 35s) is stunningly evoked by the sound’s wonderful depth and spaciousness. Has it ever sounded more enchanting? It makes other versions seem slightly prosaic and matter-of-fact…

The whole performance is by turns bracing and invigorating – lyrical and poetic. You sense the BSO were delighted by Kubelik’s inspired direction, and enthralled by a marvellous score they hadn’t encountered before.

This reissue includes the original set’s music notes, but not the history essay on the BSO. However, as a bonus, you get reproductions of DG’s original session sheets, plus a picture of the tape box. The new LPs are superbly cut, and sound impressively clean and detailed, with quiet surfaces.

Climaxes peaks around 4dB higher than the original LPs, with noticeably greater presence and immediacy. Hiss levels are low due to DG having recently started to use Dolby A noise reduction – the original A301 processor – at the time of recording.

Sides one and three are quite short – around 15m and 12m respectively. Side two lasts about 21m, with side four around 26m. On sides two and four the grooves are cut to within 4 – 6mm of the label – Yikes! Fortunately, the sound remains clean right to the end of side…

The original 1971 boxed set of Má Vlast and subsequent reissues turn up quite frequently on the used LP market. But none of the earlier issues sounds anywhere as good as this new 180g remastered LP from DG’s The Original Source series. It really is outstanding…

Original Source website

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