It is a while now since Bruno Weil and Tafelmusik made classical-period music together in the first days of Sony Classical in the early ’90s. Here they are reunited to tackle two of the most towering of all Classical works, and it seems little has changed but the label. Tafelmusik are still a superbly drilled period orchestra, with a sound that is bright and well defined but never aggressive or forced, even when, as here, they field a relatively large number of players; and Weil is still a fan of brisk tempi and not too much slack sentiment. Together they can produce exciting results: the Minuet of No 40 is fast and exuberant, and in the Jupiter the opening is both grand and snappy, the slow movement has delicious string tone, and the finale bursts with energy.

Until the final page, that is. The problem is that Weil’s apparent addiction to strict tempi robs these two symphonies of many of their moments of greatest beauty or mystery, so that when the violins hustle hastily into the start of that stupendous contrapuntal coda it is a disappointing anti-climax. Not surprisingly, the slow movements also fare badly – their perfunctoriness is almost wilful, and it is certainly a shame when details such as the tripping, dropping figures in the Andante of No 40 are shorn of all their poignancy and pain, or when the teasing arrival at a recapitulation in any movement is hurried through as if nothing much of importance has happened.

Weil and Tafelmusik were a strong partnership in Mozart’s Salzburg works and dance sets, where orchestral panache counts for much, but in these more complex and sublime creations greater humanity is needed – a fact which Weil seems rather determined to ignore.