Album: Dvorak, Symphonic Poems, Czech Phil/Mackerras (Supraphon)

Of the symphonic poems Dvorak wrote after his return from New York, only The Golden Spinning Wheel has become a regular fixture.

Charles Mackerras and the Czech Philharmonic recorded it in 2004, and have now added The Water Goblin, The Noon Witch and The Wild Dove. Mackerras's textures are tender, while the orchestral sound has an inimitable gleam. If the first three poems are a rehearsal for the natural/supernatural contrasts of Rusalka's first two acts, the fourth hints at the agony of the opera's conclusion.