Smetacek gets the whole of Ma vlast on to a single CD; Neumann only gets the first four of the tone-poems on to his first disc, filling up the second with three pieces from The bartered bride.
This is odd, and of course it would seem to make smetacek's vesion more desirable on grounds of economy. Those who go for it will surely have few regrets, for the playing is fervent, warm and committed. However, comparing them side by side, I find that choice veers towards Neumann. He begins ''Vysehrad'' in more stately fashion, with the brass more clearly balanced and set more effectively against the harps. Smetacek is nimbler, rather more vivid at the start of ''Vltava'' with the little streams, but Neumann has a warmer lyrical feeling when the big tune comes in, and he is also considerably stronger and more tragic in ''Sarka'' than Smetacek, warm and agreeable as the latter's playing is. Smetacek's recording is a little less clear in ''From Bohemia's woods and fields'', though both conductors play the piece richly and colourfully. The bartered bride pieces go well for Neumann. In short, Neumann's performances are on the whole preferable, as are his recordings, though it is a lot to expect collectors to pay for a whole additional CD disc in order to have as bonus only three short extra pieces.
Incidentally, am I clumsier than most or do others find the plastic Cd containers prone to cracking and becoming unhinged? The sleevenotes are, in the present cases, also rather inadequate, to put it mildly; though I was pleased to find the version 'translated' from Japanese telling me that Smetacek is known as ''the Karajong of Czechoslovakia''.'