It is apt that the Concertgebouw’s own label should launch with a heart-warming performance recorded live by Mariss Jansons, newly arrived as their chief conductor. The warmth of the players’ response is evidence of their endorsement.

If the first comment has to be that the New World without a coupling offers short measure for a CD, the quality of the performance is compensation. It is 15 years since Jansons made his first recording with his then orchestra, the Oslo Philharmonic (EMI, 1/90 – nla), and the reading remains very similar, idiomatic and marked by high contrasts.

The slow introduction conveys a warmth and tension that is not quite matched by the Oslo recording. Once the Allegro begins, the tensions are very similar, with the basic tempo hardly varied in the main themes. The third theme brings a shade more relaxation from the Concertgebouw. As ever in Dvorák, Jansons rejects the exposition repeat in the first movement.

Though the third and fourth movements are now marginally broader, the main differences involve recording balances, with clearer textures in the studio, as opposed to a warmer sound in the helpful, open acoustic of the Concertgebouw. The result is magical, particularly in the slow movement, where the orchestra’s unrivalled string section is inspired to playing of breathtaking refinement. A very promising start – the next issue is Jansons conducting Richard Strauss’s Ein Heldenleben.