Petrenko’s Shostakovich cycle continues with an account of the First Symphony that appreciates both its mischief and its soulfulness. Superbly characterful contributions from his woodwind section help to bring both those dimensions to life, while Petrenko’s grasp of the broader picture helps to keep the balance between them. Only once does that grasp briefly desert him, when he takes the Trio section of the second movement (where flutes and clarinets evoke a mock pilgrims’ procession) so slowly that the symphonic flow is damaged – not irreparably but enough to discourage me from listening again.

Similarly, there are dozens of delightful details in Petrenko’s account of The First of May Symphony but his structural pacing is more seriously open to question. The opening clarinet solo, for instance, may be beautifully inflected but it is so far away from the marked tempo that the first accelerando has the feeling of an emergency catch-up. Thereafter everything stays on track for a while, and the sense of enthusiasm bordering on fanaticism – surely germane, whichever way you care to “read” the piece ideologically – is superbly realised, until an unmarked slowing for the side-drum tattoo dissipates much of the excitement. Having said that, much in the late stages is outstandingly fine, including the RLPO Chorus’s more than plausible impersonation of ardent revolutionaries.

With the exception of the trumpets’ reluctance (or is it Petrenko’s?) to drive home climaxes – not a fault of Jansons’s account of the Third Symphony, for one – the internal balance and overall sound-picture are exceptionally fine. At bargain price, Naxos’s offering is hardly bettered.