DVORAK. Symphonies—complete. LSO/Kertesz. Decca SXLD6515-21 (seven records, nas, £9-94). Special offer available until March 1st, 1972 when price becomes £15•89.

No. 1 in C minor (from SXL6288, 10/67); No. 2 In B flat major (SXL6289, 9/67); No. 3 in E flat major (SXL6290, 5/67); No. 4 in D minor (SXL6257, 4/67); No. Sin F major (SXL6273, 3/67); No. 6 in D major (SXL6253, 11/66); No. 7 in D minor (SXL6115, 10/64); No. Sin G major (SXL6044, 7/63); No. 9 in E minor (SX L6291, 11/67).

Playing through the whole cycle of the nine Dvoi-e.lc Symphonies reinforces what an unquenchable spring of invention was his. Where most composers find as they grow older that they have to work harder and that the prime material comes less easily, Dvaak's flow of lyrical ideas was if anything even more youthful-sounding in No. 9 than in No. 1. In a sense the New World is explained better by regarding it not as the end of the road, the culminating Ninth that other symphonists worked towards, but as the most characteristic invention of a Peter Pan of music (and I mean that in the best sense). It has become fashionable to decry the New World, and certainly in purely symphonic terms it is not so accomplished an achievement as the masterly No. 7, but as an expression of Dvofak's memorable genius it is second to none.

In other words playing through the cycle reinforces not only one's love of each individual work but reconciles one to the unconventional shape of the cycle—no crescendo of ambition from beginning to end. In a sense the early symphonies are the most ambitious, certainly in length, and some may still feel that they do not sustain that length, but again, having the cycle as a whole, one is less concerned to demand 100 per cent mastery all the time. Instead I have found myself revelling afresh in favourite moments. I think for example of the floatingly beautiful entry of the second subject in the first movement of No. 3 or the recapitulation of the first movement of No. 5. But it would be wrong to pick out too many personal favourites. My urgent advice to anyone who has not yet succumbed to the joy of the early—or for that matter the later—Dvofak symphonies is to go out and buy this marvellous set while it is still being offered at the amazingly cheap price of little more than l per symphony.

As I have repeatedly said in the individual reviews of these symphonies, the playing and recording are outstanding. Kertesz is a crisp and understanding Dvofakian, not so obviously romantic as some of the older Czech conductors, but full of warmth, and above all able to express the simple-minded ecstasy that brims from these works. I am only sorry that Decca have not made it a permanent bargain offer. The layout on seven discs means that Nos. 4 and 8 are each spread over two discs, but fortunately that provides the minimum of inconvenience. E.G.