Andrew Manze follows up his live Hanover recordings of Symphonies Nos 40 and 41 (4/19) with their two numerical predecessors, recorded a year ago, of necessity without an audience. This disc of the Prague and No 39 revisits many of the qualities of that previous album: finely honed and unanimous string-playing, perky solo woodwind and an approach to the music as if from within – readings emerging from Manze’s many years as a foremost practitioner of period performance with at least two of the British ensembles that pioneered this music on historical instruments during the 1980s and ’90s.

The orchestra of North German Radio play on modern instruments but respond keenly to Manze’s demands for particular string articulation (the main Allegro of the opening movement of Symphony No 38) or cheeky portamentos (that of No 39). Tempos are deeply considered, as before, but again rob the faster music of its freewheeling inevitability. Compare Mackerras and the Scottish Chamber Orchestra in the first movement of the Prague, for example: a tempo that shaves 40 seconds off the playing time registered by Manze means that episodes and events tumble into one another with irresistible abandon, the climax at the movement’s close a moment of true catharsis. The same goes for the finale of No 39, where under Manze everything is in its place but lacks that sense of playing at the edge of possibility that truly brings this music alive. Perhaps this is one way in which the absence of an audience made itself felt.

Nevertheless, a full quota of repeats (including the all-important second-half return in No 39’s finale) and exemplary playing makes this a satisfying performance of both works and a fine companion to the earlier volume of the last two symphonies. But for the ultimate in excitement, look elsewhere.