The Bruegel sleeve recalls the artwork on Decca’s famous LSO/Kertész Dvorák series but it’s Belohlávek’s earlier versions of the symphonies and Scherzo capriccioso which make the most instructive comparative listening. His 1992 Chandos Sixth remains one of the strongest available: not only are the Czech PO at their sublimely articulate, songful best, but Belohlávek obtains a wonderfully unforced, delectably sprung reading and the sound is beautifully airy and ripe to match. If this BBC SO version is not quite its equal in terms of intoxicating poise, Belohlávek directs with abundant character, insight and affection; the start of the first movement’s development brings exactly the right tingling expectancy, while the finale generates exciting momentum. The playing has ample polish and vitality, and this makes such enjoyable listening that I wanted to join in the enthusiastic applause at the close!

The remaining items were set down at the BBC SO’s Maida Vale home in March 2006. As before, Belohlávek gives us a shrewdly plotted, observant and unashamedly big-scale conception (made bigger still this time round with the inclusion of the first movement exposition repeat) which compellingly illuminates the path ahead to Dvorák’s mightier symphonic utterances. I particularly warmed to the easy skip these artists impart to the irresistible Trio; and, at fig F or 5'04" in the finale, listen to the way Belohlávek gently (and very effectively) applies the brakes for that gorgeous A flat major episode. Frustratingly, the sound falls a little short in terms of bloom and enticing glow – a pity, when the playing displays both abundant commitment and no mean finish.

The painstaking preparation also pays off in the entrancing Scherzo capriccioso, which has greater exuberance and spontaneity than Belohlávek’s Czech PO predecessor. Not even Belohlávek’s big-hearted rehabilitation can redeem The Hero’s Song (Dvorák’s neglected orchestral swansong from 1897) but this package as a whole earns plenty of plus points.