These reissues are indeed opportune. Comparison at almost any point with the recent Gregor set on Supraphon/Koch International reveals Kubelik as the more imaginative, stylish and exuberant Dvorakian, and DG's 1970s sound as more vivid with a fuller string tone. If that were not enough, the latter set retails at two-thirds of the price and finds room for the Symphonic Variations and the My home and Hussite Overtures. ''Well, hang it all, what do you say to that?'' as Dvorak wrote to his publisher, Simrock, in 1887.
The context of that remark was a plea for Simrock to publish his Symphonic Variations. Listening to some portentous versions of the Variations one wonders what it was that appealed to London audiences in 1887 and caused Richter to claim ''no new work has ever had such a success as yours''. To those in favour of a more Brahmsian approach Kubelik may appear to be, at times, indecently hasty, but in fact he adheres exactly to Dvorak's metronome markings. I can only say that he removed, for me, a few serious reservations about this piece.
Basically, little of this music is as performance-proof as the late symphonies and knowing when to keep the music on the move is the prime secret of Kubelik's success. There's a Hussite Overture that avoids bombast and offers instead an invigorating whirl of patriotic fervour, a Carnival that fairly sizzles with excitement, and an explosive Othello Overture that, unlike Gregor's, has dramatic thrust and momentum as well as tragic weight. Yet Kubelik rarely presses forward where articulation would be impaired. How much clearer are the woodwind figures here in the noon witch's opening domestic idyll than on Jarvi's (otherwise excellent) Chandos set of the symphonic poems.
The gruesome goings on of the symphonic poems find Kubelik revelling in the dramatic opportunities. In his hands this music never sounds episodic. And the startling clarity of the sound, abetted by his separated violin desks, allows you to enjoy all of Dvorak's many magical, and frequently prophetic, orchestral effects. Some of Kubelik's finest work on record.'