No doubts as to the clear winner here. Zubin Mehta and the Israel Philharmonic turn in an efficient rather than inspired display. The chosen venue of Tel Aviv's Mann Auditorium is unhelpful to say the least, its comparatively 'dead', bloom-free acoustic ill-suited to Smetana's evocative inspiration. Nor is the orchestral response particularly memorable: admittedly, the Israeli strings can produce an agreeably full body of tone when required, but one notes that the wind and brass sections are not really of the first rank (fallible, flustered flutes at the start of ''Vltava'', for example). Mehta is at his best in the splendid ''Sarka'' (ardent if just a bit short-winded), but elsewhere his approach tends towards the briskly impatient, especially in the last three tableaux.
The contrast with Antoni Wit and the Polish National Radio Symphony Orchestra on Naxos could hardly be greater. Mehta's performance clocks in at just over 70 minutes, whereas Wit's unusually spacious conception adds an extra nine-and-a-half minutes to his rival's total timing. However, such is the appealing character and sense of involvement of the Pole's eventful account that it actually feels the shorter of the two! Helped by airier sounds, Wit's ''Vysherad'' is stately and atmospheric, his ''From Bohemia's Woods and Fields'' notably poised and affectionate. ''Sarka'' has a big-hearted fervour and expressive tang missing from Mehta's more excitable rendering whereas ''Vltava'' is very broad and deliberate indeed, its big tune invested with an almost Klemperer-like weight and dignity. Both ''Tabor'' and ''Blanik'' are similarly massive but fit convincingly into Wit's distinctive view as a whole. The excellent Polish orchestra play with fine discipline and much idiomatic warmth throughout, and the recorded sound is most satisfying too, both rich and nicely detailed. If pushed, I couldn't honestly say that Wit seriously challenges the supremacy of the exalted comparative trio listed above, but this new Naxos offering enshrines an interpretation of no mean stature and individuality: an undoubted bargain, I would say.'