With this release, only four of Allan Pettersson’s symphonies remain for Christian Lindberg to record: Nos 3, 8, 10 and 11, all of which Leif Segerstam set down for BIS, as he did the iconic Seventh and the main work here, No 15 (1978). Lindberg’s account of the Fifteenth was made in January 2020 and is its third recording, the first being Peter Ruzicka’s for CPO, issued a few months before Segerstam’s tauter, more driven account.

At 35 minutes, Lindberg’s lies between Ruzicka’s pioneering account (which ran to nearly 39') and Segerstam (32'30", the closest to the composer’s own timing of 31'). As with his previous Pettersson interpretations, Lindberg finds more light and shade than his rivals, securing the best attributes of both: tightness of performance (the Norrköping Symphony Orchestra are once more on scintillating form) and illumination of the knottier tangles in the composer’s polyphony without making the whole seem an incoherent rant. His slightly more expansive tempo choices allow him to exercise more control over the whole discourse and let it sing.

The couplings for viola bookend Pettersson’s career. The unaccompanied Fantaisie (1936) is a student work, rather Hindemithian in tone. Ellen Nisbeth takes it at a more relaxed tempo than Michael Scheitzbach on CPO, and in this more resonant recording it feels a stronger piece if still a minor one. The Concerto (1979) was Pettersson’s last completed composition, although it lay hidden for a while after his death. It may be that the composer had not put all the finishing touches to the orchestration – which might account for its lighter textures – and the title-page is missing. Ellen Nisbeth has edited the solo part for this recording, which compares favourably with Nobuko Imai’s account with Lev Markiz. Nisbeth’s tone is warmer and fuller than Imai’s and she plays with greater knowledge of the score (I do not know how long Imai had to learn it). This stunningly recorded album can be safely recommended to the adventurous.