Mariss Jansons’s recent recording of Bruckner’s Eighth Symphony with the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra (BR Klassik, 9/18) was an impressive achievement in every respect but I don’t feel this account of the Ninth Symphony from three years earlier is quite on the same level. Interpretatively, there’s little difference between Jansons’s approach on this new release and the previously released recording on RCO Live deriving from his performances with the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra just two months later. Both recordings are swifter in the outer movements than we usually hear these days, harking back to a time when conductors such as Rosbaud and Schuricht regularly led performances of the symphony lasting well under an hour. Both are also beautifully played, as might be expected with orchestras of this calibre. Dynamic and tempo markings are observed with a remarkable degree of fidelity and orchestral textures are both warm and revealing of inner detail. There are even the same conductor vocalisations on both recordings – very faint, but noticeable when listening on headphones.

If forced to choose between the two versions, I’d probably plump for the newcomer on account of its marginally more vivid sound. Collectors are, however, spoilt for choice in this symphony, with recordings by the likes of Barenboim, Karajan and Wand bringing the listener closer to the heart of this most intense and original of Bruckner’s works.