In the case of the Eighth Symphony, initial impressions are wholly favourable and for the most part firmly substantiated by what follows. The artful shaping of the slow introduction, the balance of winds and strings, the skilful transition to the principal Allegro and the way climaxes are charted with only the subtlest suggestion of broadening for dramatic effect (ie at 7'47"), all suggest insightful collaboration. You hear absolutely everything and Edo de Waart’s acute sense of tonal colour makes creative capital out of every significant key change. As to Dvořák’s instrumentation, and the way de Waart traces it, listen in particular to the bassoon at 8'07" into the second movement or the trilling horns in the finale. Only the Allegretto con grazioso struck me as a little too formal; otherwise I would call this is a well-played, well-paced, finely detailed and admirably energetic reading of the symphony, extremely well recorded.

My personal choice for a disc companion would have been another symphony or maybe a couple of Dvořák’s bigger concert overtures. David Walter’s wind quintet arrangement of the American String Quartet works best in the last two movements, where dancing rhythms predominate and the switch from string to wind textures seems fairly comfortable. However, in the first two movements the unique expressive resources afforded by a quartet of strings, including a degree of edge and vibrancy, are an essential part of Dvořák’s ground plan and here winds tend to smooth away the music’s rugged contours so that, although the playing itself is excellent, it all begins to sound rather bland and uninvolving. Listen for comparison to Dvořák’s great Wind Serenade and you soon realise how skilfully he allocated different varieties of material for strings and for winds. So ‘half a hit’ for the quartet/quintet, and enough of a thumbs-up for the symphony to prompt a further helping of symphonic Dvořák from the same source.