A pupil of Dvorak, Viteszlav Novak (1870-1949) left us some fine music, most notably the large-scale cantata The Storm from 1908-10, which is generally considered his masterpiece. Both the tone-poems here are painted in richly opulent, very Straussian colours; indeed, the evocative mountainscape In the Tatra Mountains (1902) often strikingly anticipates elements of Strauss's Alpine Symphony written some ten years later. Unhelpful melodrama does rear its head from time to time in the more active pages, but there's also much sensitive nature-music to be encountered, particularly in the almost Delian introduction to Eternal Longing (1905). In sum, impressive, often rewarding repertoire, consummately well-played in these eloquent interpretations from that underrated Czech master, Karel Sejna.
The real gem on this disc, though, is the Slovak Suite, full of the most gorgeous melody (try the third movement, ''Lovers''), captivating local colour (''The Band'') and genuinely touching inspiration (the concluding ''At Night''). Sejna and his hugely responsive Brno forces bring to this lovely score a captivating naturalness and sense of unbounded joy that rather eludes their full-price rivals, Frantisek Vajnar and the Czech PO, on the same label.
As with other Supraphon remasterings I've encountered recently, the mid-1960s sound here represents an astonishing improvement on the somewhat pale LP originals. Worth investigating, especially for the Slovak Suite.'