Very much to my liking, this – the punchy, neatly packed sound; the way the timps thwack away at the right-hand side of the stage, the antiphonally placed fiddles busying to and fro, Haitink’s unmannered, high-energy but essentially non-aggressive approach to both symphonies. The first thing that strikes you about the Pastoral is its sensitive shaping. The second is the lively pacing, but never breathless or unduly hurried. The ‘Scene by the brook’ ebbs and flows at roughly the prescribed speed and yet the LSO’s playing, ever warm-hearted, never adopts ‘period’ affectations: it’s as if the laudable old guard has had a wash, a brush-up and a slight change of heart regarding tempo and articulation. The ‘Peasants’ Merrymaking’ enjoys something of Toscanini’s bacchanalian drive, the storm a measure of his dynamism.

The Second Symphony is formal but fun. The opening Adagio molto is pretty powerful, the principal allegro light on its feet but rock-steady and with an imposing and firmly held bass-line at around 8'12" in the development. Again, Haitink keeps the slow movement on the move without sacrificing gravitas and at the centre of the Scherzo’s trio the accented second chord sounds accented (at 1'59" – Beecham being one of the few older conductors who make the same point).

Both readings are profoundly satisfying, the work of musicians who know the scores backwards, love playing them and know what not to do. To say that they provide a new benchmark would be crass; but Haitink and the LSO seem set to provide one of the top Beethoven symphony cycles of the digital era.