For the Vienna Symphony Orchestra, which launched its own label recently with Mahler’s perhaps too-often recorded First Symphony (4/13), a logical follow-up would seem be the composer’s Sixth, which rather leans on the opposite side of the exposure scale. In any case, the playing certainly unfolds as if the expectations are lower, with an expansive ease that remains generally pleasant to the ear.

Unfortunately, it rarely gets beyond that. Simply put, the Vienna Symphony lacks the depth of rapport with the music exhibited by the higher-profile Vienna Philharmonic and despite a few genuinely memorable moments, very little in Fabio Luisi’s approach to the piece is truly distinctive. A promising start in the opening Allegro, unfolding with appropriate weight and pacing, is soon squandered with the entrance of the second theme (the famous ‘Alma portrait’). By the time Luisi and his Viennese forces ease their way into the Andante, the bottom has fallen out of the tautness they were able to build at the beginning.

Regarding the age-old debate about where to put the Scherzo, Luisi’s placing of it as the third movement – and the opening of the second CD – is perhaps the most inspired part of the programme. Just as Mahler’s score echoes themes from the first movement, Luisi manages to recreate the intensity of the opening. This time, though, the tension remains consistent; only past the Scherzo and into the finale does the balance begin to flag, with Mahler’s contrasting themes never really finding a comfortable balance.

From a diagnostic point of view, this recording provides ample opportunities for discussion. There is, first of all, a preference for ease and grace over emotional contrast, as well as a false conflation between slow tempi and a lack of intensity. One might say that, instead of playing to win, Luisi and his forces were playing not to lose. It’s a strategy that occasionally wins sporting matches and court cases – or an occasional pleasant evening in the concert hall – but it hardly produces statements for the ages.