Though the Mozarteum Orchestra uses modern instruments (keening valveless brass apart), this Creation is close in style, scale and transparency of texture to the three period versions listed. Indeed, with a recording that catches every strand in the texture while giving choir and soloists ample presence, some details emerge more vividly than I have ever heard: the contrabassoon’s subaqueous bellow in “Schäumend in rollenden Wellen”, for instance; or the lambent high woodwind above the soloists’ frolicking coloratura in “Der Herr ist gross”.

Except for the occasional mannerism – say, the orchestral swells in “Mit Würd’ und Hoheit” – Ivor Bolton shapes and paces the music naturally, at tempi virtually identical to Gardiner’s. Fast choruses have a joyous athleticism, their resplendent climaxes finely prepared and clinched. Recitatives are dramatic, sometimes (especially when David Wilson-Johnson is implicated) even witty. Yet like Gardiner, Bolton never short-changes the elements of awe and mystery. The Salzburg chorus, if rather softer-grained than the Monteverdi Choir and Harnoncourt’s Arnold Schoenberg Choir, rival any in youthful freshness, with a notably sweet soprano line.

As Gabriel and Uriel, Miah Persson and Topi Lehtipuu sing with the same tonal allure and dramatic alertness they showed in the glorious Glyndebourne Così fan tutte last year. Though his prominent vibrato may be slightly disconcerting at first, Wilson-Johnson matches his fellow archangels in intelligence and involvement. He summons plenty of sonorous bass depth for his arias and makes a nimble, lyrical Adam to Persson’s enchanting Eve.

This inspiriting new Creation deserves a place alongside Harnoncourt (occasionally perverse but always thought-provoking), Gardiner (magnificent except for Sylvia McNair’s coyly winsome Gabriel) and Spering (a terrific Naxos bargain). Choice may well be clinched by the soloists. For my money Bolton’s trio are the best of all recent versions.