On the reverse of the accompanying booklet (of which more anon) much is made of the Gürzenich Orchestra’s association with Mahler’s Fifth, an involvement beginning with the work’s first public performance in 1904. The suggestion that this ‘patently places this version in a class of its own’ is a bit rich given that it’s not long since the Cologne band recorded the work under erstwhile chief Markus Stenz. Quite apart from which no German ensemble can boast an unbroken Mahler tradition.

In keeping with the text-centred objectivity expected these days, the actual reading feels positively forensic but acquires a more disruptive profile as it proceeds, determined not to underplay disparities of tempo and dynamic. The Scherzo rarely sounds this fresh, its first Trio daringly unhurried. Authentic or not, the Adagietto has a playing time approaching that of the famously emotive Leonard Bernstein version. Osmo Vänskä’s recent account is slower than either but in Cologne the main body of the movement acquires a hushed, virginal quality marked off from a more confident, thrusting central section. Both newcomers present a surprisingly deliberate and equivocal finale. While arguably lacking clout, the argument never gets bogged down here as it sometimes does in Minnesota and you might even find Roth’s light-textured neoclassicism more convincing than Bernstein’s traditional grandstanding as we reach the closing chorale.

Throughout Roth secures string-playing that is super-articulate with no shortage of special effects, trumpets and horns kept on a tight rein in what sounds like a dryish studio. Will older hands consider the results emotionally engaged or merely sharp-eared and brilliant? That is the question posed by the incisive funeral march and I’m not sure I can answer it except to report that I was totally won over by the close.

If there is a downside, it relates to the booklet which in its earliest incarnation contains only French and German. We are assured that this is merely a production glitch, and future pressings will be corrected. Indeed, trilingual presentation is available on the Harmonia Mundi website.