Neeme Järvi has sometimes been accused of purveying an all-purpose style with rather hasty tempi, but that kind of integrationist approach works wonders with Busoni – a composer defined by his dualities, but one who also foundered on them.

It’s telling that Busoni created so many ‘suites’ when writing for the orchestra – believing so much in series and juxtaposition that he adapted operas from orchestral suites rather than the other way around. Jean-François Antonioli gave us an episodic Brautwahl-Suite polarising Busoni’s spookiness, lyricism, mysticism, Hebraicism and then happiness by extremes of tempo and phrasing. Järvi streamlines the same sequence, dispatching each number more quickly and making the music more coherent and concen- trated, worth much more than mere curiosity value. Prompt but never rushed, Järvi’s performances smack of the concert hall rather than the musical sideshow or tourist kiosk.

That’s not to say Järvi doesn’t have his own brilliant, sui generis moments: he achieves real lift-off in the Lustspiel-Ouvertüre, Busoni’s intriguing if uncharacteristic try at a conventional curtain-raiser. By comparison, Arturo Tamayo and the Berlin RSO have a good deal less Lust in their Spiel.

Järvi’s performances on his two Busoni collections – the first was welcomed by Michael Oliver (7/02) – are the most consistently sympathetic I’ve heard in some years, and they’re sure – not least because of the series’ comprehensiveness – to enhance Busoni’s reputation as an orchestral composer. I can’t wait for the third disc in this survey.