Given the distance between the “authentic” Fourths peddled by Mahler disciples Willem Mengelberg and Bruno Walter, Norrington’s insistence on the deployment of vibrato-less strings, strategically seated, as a sort of holy grail is not always easy to take. That said, you have to admire his pluck: he sets up any number of hostages to fortune in his lively accompanying booklet-notes. As in his recent First (1/06), the effect is to restore a certain rustic vigour to over-familiar repertoire at the expense of what we used to think of as the longer line. Tempi are mostly brisk with snappy, acutely observed woodwinds and a soupcon of colourising vibrato for the Scherzo’s macabre gypsy fiddling.

Unexpectedly, perhaps, Norrington is relatively conventional at the start, eschewing the fashionable kink that has flutes and sleigh bells playing independently of the clarinets’ and first violins’ ritardando. The climax of the slow movement arrives rather precipitately but the missing ingredient is harder to pin down. Is it the nth degree of emotional engagement or the traditional sense of symphonic heft?

As for the finale’s child’s-eye view of heaven, the boisterous, even choppy, effect is remote indeed from the kind of creamy languor favoured by traditional favourites like Maazel with Kathleen Battle (Sony, 3/85 – nla). Anu Komsi throws herself into a detailed pre-school characterisation of the kind that will inevitably be considered cutesy and short-breathed by sceptical listeners.

The recording is as pristine as the music-making even if its impact is plainly boosted by a close microphone placement which can make portamento effects seem spray-painted on. This is a live concert relay with applause retained.