Here is a strong, intelligent performance of Mendelssohn’s greatest symphony. Not even in the Italian Symphony did he achieve such mastery, and Joseph Swensen responds with great sensitivity, and with warm support from the players, to Mendelssohn’s skill in uniting his disparate Scottish experiences into a true symphony.

Without overemphasis, Swensen pays subtle attention to the manner in which the central theme moves into the Allegro from the slow introduction, rather than set off in abrupt contrast, and he turns from the skirling liveliness of the Vivace to the Adagio without a sense of any break. Perhaps it is his sense of continuity that leads him to play this Adagio more lightly than some conductors do. The movement can take greater depth of feeling, whether or not Mendelssohn was really contemplating Holyrood and the ruined altar where Mary was crowned Queen of Scots, as he wrote. Even so there have been grander performances that have meant less; this is a skilful and perceptive one. Swensen is also colourful and evocative in the Hebrides Overture.

The coupling is unusual, but Swensen, who began his career as a violinist, has been returning to concerto playing with orchestras with whom he has a good relationship. There are, of course, other versions of the work without number. This one is fresh and lyrical, though (especially in view of the performance of the Symphony) there is a curious lack of fluency, with a tendency to snatch at phrases in the first movement and especially the finale, and in the Andante to press the phrasing rather than let its sublime melody seem to unfold in its own way. The recording does excellent justice to Mendelssohn’s wonderful orchestration.