Les nuits d’été (the definite article is missing throughout Somm’s eccentric presentation) may be the only work by Berlioz that could benefit from re-instrumentation, and here David Matthews was commissioned to write for a halfway house between Berlioz’s piano original and his later chamber orchestration. He took the cue from Berlioz to use a harp in four of the songs and the result, I think, is wonderfully true to the spirit of the original, weightless and suggestive. So I’d like to place it alongside other favourite recordings of recent years: Véronique Gens (Virgin, 12/01, with orchestra) and Marie-Nicole Lemieux (Cyprès, with piano). But the keys chosen by or for Heather Shipp don’t quite fit: “Villanelle” seems uncomfortably high, and she has to dig out the opening of “Sur les lagunes”. Matthews’s arrangement certainly deserves a second recording; Marc Minkowski apparently conducted the premiere in 2007.

By contrast, Erwin Stein’s salon-size version of the Mahler has now received 10 recordings since Howard Griffiths made the first (for Novalis) in 1997. Various members of the Orchestra of the Swan sound like they’re having fun – the cellist with some liberal portamento, the clarinettist with a Brahmsian introduction to the finale – but better tuning and smarter ensemble are all needed to make this latest version more competitive. It’s definitely a one-off performance, though there’s no sign of an audience until the end of each work.