Osmo Vänskä’s revelatory first Sibelius symphony cycle, made with the Lahti Symphony Orchestra in the 1990s (reissued last year) formed the cornerstone of his international reputation. The ‘finest survey of the past three decades’ I hailed it last year. A decade and a half on, Vänskä has revisited the music with his new orchestra in Minnesota, and his interpretations have moved on.

So how do Nos 2 and 5 compare with their Lahti equivalents? They are every bit as compelling and intelligently realised. This time around in No 2 tempi are more flexible, for instance the heavier reining-in midway through the opening Allegretto, the very sedate start of the Tempo andante, ma rubato second span (two minutes slower as a whole in Minnesota but still teeming with drama), or the passage after 4'00" in the finale. The peroration is taken a touch too slowly for my liking (although the movement in total is now slightly swifter), just missing the incandescence achieved last time (and, indeed, by Järvi before him). Overall, I find the Lahti version’s flow more convincing but Minnesota’s has the added bonus of superlative sound and much rethought detail. No 5 has these same plus points and is a tad quicker now than 15 years ago. If anything, Vänskä handles the opening movement’s compound structure even better than before and the finale is just right, with irresistible forward momentum outstripping even Järvi. Thore Brinkmann’s superb sound reproduces with exceptional clarity every nuance of a finely balanced orchestral picture in a spacious acoustic (try the opening bars of the Fifth). Altogether, a fine start to what may be the benchmark cycle for the 21st century. Oh, and the notes by one Robert Layton aren’t bad either!