At the outset, however, all appears well; the veiled opening unfolds with a hushed, organic pulse. Choral entries are cleanly marked and draw out the text’s emphases with an assured certainty. This continues into the extremely slow ‘march in triple time’ second movement. Matters start to come adrift in the third movement, which lacks a sense of forward propulsion: one senses that the immaculately drilled chorus is straining at the leash. Occasionally it takes a bar or two for choir and orchestra to synchronise until the magnificent fugue stretches out over a pedal D.

The greatest error of judgement occurs in ‘Wie lieblich sind deine Wohnungen’, with a sudden and unnecessary accelerando which robs the second horn of its little moment of solo glory in bar 89. It’s all too perfunctory and hurried. The sixth movement also starts at quite a trot (hardly Andante) and Gergiev proceeds to slash his way through the music from the Vivace onwards, forcing many small details of rhythm and diction to be obliterated. Of the soloists, Christopher Maltman is firm and forthright in his two solo passages, while Sally Matthews’s unrelenting vibrato becomes wearying.

Gergiev’s wayward approach to tempi and lack of nobility rule out this newcomer. Better to chose Gardiner’s live recording for a more balanced approach, with a smaller, tauter chorus and a brighter-sounding orchestra.