At first sight Simax might look to be onto a loser here. Arriving back-to-back with a prestigious live relay of the same work from Munich, this disinterred composite of two March 2000 concert dates seems uncompetitive. I am not so sure. Jansons himself was unhappy with the Oslo Konserthus as a venue but the sound here is very good, more solid and upfront than that of the Bavarian Radio Symphony’s ultra-lucid “own label” SACD, only partly a matter of the higher level of the Simax transfer. For English-speaking purchasers the detailed English-language notes by Malcolm MacDonald are a definite plus. That the interpretation is marginally less fleet, less dapper than it was to become may be construed as a good thing too. What registers most is the finesse of the playing. A frankly provincial small-scale outfit on Jansons’s arrival in 1979, the Oslo Philharmonic is heard here towards the end of his tenure, unmistakably an ensemble of international stature, capable of remarkable feats of virtuosity and depth of tone. The central Scherzo is already over-lit, the finale remorselessly bright, yet with the string body sounding heftier than in a previous Jansons/Oslo pairing of the First and Ninth (7/03), this must be a contender for those who prefer their Mahler without too much grit and angst. The denouement really is “garlanded by the clangour of bells” and enthusiastic applause is retained. Expect further extrovert Mahlerian reclamations from this source.