‘It will be intimate Brahms with a lot of grandeur, and this is what counts for me’, says Fabio Luisi in a promo video for this first instalment of his new survey of the four symphonies with the Dallas Symphony Orchestra. Grand it is. Frankly, I was relieved to hear the DSO’s richly upholstered sound in the opening bars of the First Symphony, having just immersed myself in Adám Fischer’s recent cycle with the Danish CO (Naxos, A/22), whose strings sound thin and often shrill.

I wouldn’t describe Luisi’s performances as intimate, although there are breathtakingly quiet moments in the Second Symphony – listen, say, at 5'23" in the finale, where the music becomes very hushed and still. In general, I’d describe Luisi’s interpretations as being more or less in the Giulini mode: monumental, patiently phrased and with an emphasis on singing tone. What’s missing in this recording of the First is the tension Giulini generates in both his LAPO (DG, 10/82) and VPO (10/92) accounts. Take the grinding cadence in the First’s introduction: Giulini makes it wrenching, Luisi (at 0'40") eases through it.

There are some glorious moments, mind you. The slow movement is very beautiful throughout, for example, and I was especially moved by the recapitulation of the opening melody (at 4'38"), which arrives like a warm embrace. But too many dramatic moments – the return of the finale’s introduction at 12'22", say – go for naught.

This is especially frustrating as the Second Symphony is given an absolutely terrific reading. It’s similarly big-boned and, as in the First, Luisi always allows time for the music to breathe – even in the giddiness of the finale – but overall there’s a far greater sense of intensity and incident. I love the way he plays with light and shade in the first movement, finding a wealth of subtle contrasts in colour and emotional tone along the way. He maintains a gentle yet persistent sense of urgency in the expansively paced Adagio non troppo – a performance one can get lost in – and I also love how he holds back the tempo when the violins swoop in melancholically at the end of the ideally paced third movement. Not all listeners will take to his various tempo adjustments in the finale, but for me they highlight the music’s extraordinary changeability.

The DSO play magnificently in both symphonies and the recording quality is superb. I doubt I’ll ever revisit Luisi’s First Symphony but I’m certain I’ll be returning to the Second to savour it yet again.