Edward Gardner and Vasily Petrenko have been taking their Norwegian orchestras through plenty of Elgar in concert while recording the same works with ensembles in Britain. There is a certain feeling for the composer on the Danish-Norwegian axis – explainable via cultural and geopolitical history, to a point – which this 2013 Bergen recording of the Enigma Variations under Gardner’s predecessor Andrew Litton reveals in its depth, detail, sincerity and fluency.

Jazz-literate Litton invests the score with the improvisatory feeling that induced it in the first place, even if he draws out the initial theme in a way that might concern some (like his over-egged last gesture in the finale). Other than that, the performance is on-point, elegiac, witty, high on self-confidence where it needs to be (with a swagger recalling Barbirolli) and convincingly compassionate elsewhere. Ensemble is tight and textures meticulous, for which try ‘BGN’ with its cello solo leading to the misty sea-voyage clarinet solo. The fresh, woody quality of the Bergen strings makes for a distinctive ‘Nimrod’ – even if Litton doesn’t tug the movement onwards in the middle as others so effectively do – and delivers moments to savour throughout, as at 4'13" in the finale, when the music starts to dig deep. All over, phrasing conveys the narrative and Litton’s generosity of spirit, more hot-headed than Petrenko in Liverpool, moved me deeply.

Only one serious concern with Holst’s The Planets that follows, recorded four years later in 2017 (well into Gardner’s tenure), and that’s the way Litton has the main theme in ‘Jupiter’ fall exaggeratingly into its tempo – twice. The jollity is on the leaden side and the string constellation that opens the movement lacks the static electricity it needs. Otherwise, everything is in place in a meaty performance that doesn’t quite reach the lightness and fluidity of Vladimir Jurowski’s live performance with the LPO or the fearsome power of Gardner’s with the National Youth Orchestra, but does well on focusing the score’s unusual and ethereal textures. So a case of decent Holst but exceptional Elgar.