Osmo Vänskä launches his Nielsen symphony cycle for BIS with a freshly conceived‚ keenly pondered and invigorating account of the First Symphony. Rather more than Blomstedt and Schønwandt‚ Vänskä allows himself plenty of expressive leeway‚ and numerous interpretative touches ignite the imagination (sample the tingling hush at the start of the first­movement development and coda from 4'11" and 8'49" respectively). Middle voices – violas especially – are a speciality‚ though some may feel Vänskä dwells over this or that detail at the expense of surging momentum (and‚ to my mind‚ he whips up the work’s closing pages to unhelpfully hectic effect). On the other hand‚ the slow movement acquires a distinctive elevation (Vänskä’s patient tempo feels more like an Adagio than the marked Andante)‚ and if the BBC Scottish SO inevitably can’t quite match Blomstedt’s classy San Francisco Symphony in terms of tonal sheen and patrician elegance‚ they play with commendable discipline and infectious ardour none the less. BIS’s sound­picture is extremely vivid‚ if just a little raw (tuttis are wanting the very last ounce of transparency)‚ whereas that for the Sixth (set down a year earlier) places the listener a few rows further back in the auditorium; the results are never less than spectacularly natural (the bass­drum in the finale’s Allegretto un poco ninth variation from 8'20" packs a visceral wallop)‚ but I’d have preferred a tighter focus and more analytical balance than we get here. More so than in the First‚ Vänskä lets the music do the talking – and what extraordinarily enigmatic‚ unnerving‚ infinitely questing music it is! Under him the Symphony’s opening measures have exactly the right sense of beatific‚ wide­eyed wonder‚ and the intellectual‚ poetic and emotional scope he displays throughout genuinely excites. Above all‚ this feels like a real‚ breathing performance‚ and these players respond to their chief with an unstinting honesty and palpable dedication. Although Vänskä’s insights are undoubtedly plentiful‚ I would not‚ all things considered‚ prefer him to either Blomstedt or Schønwandt‚ but aficionados should waste no time in meeting this searching newcomer’s acquaintance and I eagerly look forward to future instalments in the series (Vänskä’s perceptively characterised reading of The Four Temperaments at last year’s Proms aroused the highest expectations).