N ikolaus Harnoncourt seems fascinated with all things Czech at the moment; he has already recorded a series of discs of Dvorak, from symphonies to Slavonic dances, and he now turns his attention to that composer's great predecessor, spreading the six tone poems of Ma Vlast generously across two discs. Other conductors have shown the benefits of period instruments in Smetana, but this is an example of Harnoncourt in his grand, sumptuously modern symphonic mould, obtaining playing of sweep, dramatic vividness and tonal allure from the Vienna Philharmonic . The conductor supplies his own sleeve notes ("there exists no comparable work in European music," he says of the score) and brings as much freshness to the best-known numbers, Vltava and Bohemia's Wood and Fields, as he does excitement to the other four.