The first thing that hits you about this disc is the extraordinary range and quality of the sound. As Aho’s Third Symphony (1971-73) edges in from the outer reaches of audibility, the temptation is to rack up the volume. Be warned, while there are no huge climaxes as found in the Cello Concerto (2/96), the hushed entry of the solo violin will be rather too loud, and the entry of the woodwind (just over three minutes in) will have you rushing to turn the volume down again, after which this preludial opening span returns to the quietude from which it came.

Aho’s Third, like so many of his early symphonies, is indebted to Shostakovich, and the innocent ear might be forgiven for thinking the start of the second movement (which, slightly awkwardly, seems to begin the piece all over again) is some lost violin concerto of the Russian master. But as in his blistering Fourth Symphony (12/00, long a favourite of mine), the Finn metamorphoses his material into something distinctly his. The soloist disappears for long stretches (so this is no concerto-in-hiding any more than the composer’s Eighth – 3/95 – or Ninth – 2/96 – are), but there is no let-up in the virtuosity required by the players. If the work is a little unsure of itself at the outset, there is no denying the confidence with which it charts its principal course and Osmo Vänskä directs an electrifying account.

Stunning, too, is the coupling, Aho’s orchestration of Mussorgsky’s balefully gripping Songs and Dances of Death, made in the 1980s for Martti Talvela, who recorded it for BIS in a magisterial account. Although Salminen’s compares very well, I would not say he displaces Talvela, while Neeme Järvi’s generally faster tempi suit the music equally well. Where this newcomer scores, once again, is in the sound, so that every detail hits home. Compare the opening bars of the final song, ‘The Field-Marshal’, where the difference is as obvious as Vänskä’s drum. An excellent disc.