Unlike some of the recordings in Michael Gielen’s Mahler cycle, this version of No 1 is not a reissue but a brand new production, set down as recently as last year in the seemingly ideal acoustic of the Freiburg Konzerthaus. As so often in this series, the conductor’s take on the music is wonderfully fresh. Indeed, the dispassionate chill of his modernist peers is eschewed so completely that I was sometimes reminded of the work of Rafael Kubelík. Naturally, Gielen is straighter – and he takes all the repeats – but his textures have a not dissimilar radiance.

Mahler’s extraordinary, rapt introduction is technically spot on here and as atmospheric as any. On the other hand, Gielen doesn’t explore every expressive nook and cranny in the inner movements. The Ländler, treated with unusual fluency at a considerable lick, still comes over well. It’s the cool approach to the slow movement that may disappoint. Typically, its opening double bass solo is too elegant for its own good: it surely needs to whine more. The orchestra is back on song in the many difficult passages of the finale. No doubt its sonority is a shade light in the bass but, with violin desks placed antiphonally, the effect is translucent and wind solos are always characterful. Given that many issues offer no makeweight, the eccentric couplings are welcome. The Mahler’s the thing though – a valuable supplement to weightier rivals with bolder manners which proves there’s more than one way to skin a cat.