James Tobin writes of the popularity of "Ma Vlast":

>>Why is "Moldau" so much more popular than the rest of Ma Vlast?
>
>it starts quietly with a simple melody and builds.  I've always preferred
>it to the other pieces myself.  Don't you think some of them are on the
>bombastic side? From Bohemian Meadows and Forests is probably the second
>most frequently played segment and that is quiet.

But they're all marvellous!

Smetana tends to be grossly underrated outside his native land.  Agreed,
he is a much more abrasive orchestrator than Dvorak, but this gives his
orchestral work a pungency and edge very much his own.  He is also amongst
the best dramatists in music, and this applies to his orchestral - and
chamber - music as much as to his wonderful cycle of operas, of which "The
Kiss" is the finest, indeed one of the most flawless and mature operas ever
written.

I think it's quite right of Jim to say that "Vltava" is most popular
because it is the mildest and most poetic of this essentially dramatic
sequence, and because it makes most sense as a separate item.  Even so,
it's better in context, as so many of its themes are taken from the nobler
"Vysehrad" and later reworked in the magical "Bohemia's Woods and Fields"
(my own personal favourite by some margin).

The others - "Sarka" and "Tabor-Blanik", which is really one long piece,
deal with tempestuous and brutal events, the violent forging of a nation in
the fires, so it's hardly to be expected they'd be quite so soothing on the
ear.

Chances to hear the segments of this very great work in proper sequence,
as a cycle, are ludicrously rare.  The effect, when we get the chance, can
be overwhelming.

Christopher Webber,  Blackheath, London,  UK.
http://www.nashwan.demon.co.uk/zarzuela.htm
"ZARZUELA!"