Bruno Walter - Dvorák: Symphonies Nos. 8 & 9 (2019) [Hi-Res]

Bruno Walter recorded the Eighth in southern California in 1962, at the end of a glorious career in the opera pit, on the podium, and in the studio. A finer valedictory could scarcely have been possible. This sunny, ebullient account is full of real grazioso phrasing and has a wonderful lightness of touch, yet shows plenty of muscle from a man who was 85 at the time he conducted it. The playing of the Columbia Symphony is inspired, and the recording, now more than 50 years old, remains exemplary for its balance and extraordinarily good sonics. – Ted Libbey, author of The NPR Guide to Building a Classical CD Collection.