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THE AMERICAN conductor Leon Botstein has earned himself something of a reputation for rescuing worthy lesser masters from relative obscurity (Joachim, Dohnnyi, Hartmann and others), but Friday's LPO concert found him pulling out the stops for one of the repertory's best-loved works.
Not long ago, Botstein suggested to me that the celebrated "Largo" second movement from Dvorak's New World Symphony may well be a musical narrative based on the theme of Hiawatha, and there was a discernible story-telling element in Friday's performance. The first movement (with repeat) was passionate, propulsive and rhythmically tight, with...