The Bucharest Philharmonic Orchestra plays splendidly for Christian Mandeal in Enescu's Symphony 3. One would hope they would, of course, but they greatly exceeded my expectations.
I wonder why one would be surprised that the large capital city of a country with one of the finest traditions of string playing in Europe (care of that wonderful Mr Enescu) might have a very good orchestra? I do agree, though - the whole of the Mandeal Enescu series is a joy.
One orchestra which has staggered me in recent years, thanks to its superlative recordings on Naxos is the Weimar Staatskapelle - surely an orchestral ensemble as good as any in central Europe. Their recording with Polish conductor Antoni Wit of Richard Strauss's
Eine Alpensinfonie was given the accolade of benchmark recording of this work by some reviewers when it was released.