Objections on principle can be put aside. There is no fixed boundary between chamber and full orchestras, and I should not be surprised to learn that the ensembles Sibelius wrote for boasted a complement of strings not much larger than the Northern Sinfonia’s. In any case Thomas Zehetmair is nothing like as wilful an interpreter as Paavo Berglund with the Chamber Orchestra of Europe (10/98, nla). His tempi, with one exception, are unsensational and highly effective, and he inspires readings of great expressive intensity.

The anticipated benefits of small-band Sibelius include superior rapidity of response and personalised nuance; the possible pitfalls are that structural climaxes demanding weight of tone will not be fully clinched, and that brass and timpani may too easily overwhelm the strings. With the Third Symphony, the gains outweigh the losses, thanks to the fine balance Zehetmair maintains between forward drive and a sense of inwardness and mystery.

The Sixth Symphony is rather less successful. I miss the seasoned Sibelian’s instinct for when to stand back and listen to the music’s interior animating voice. Beautifully played though the first movement is, it feels to me too emotionally healthy from too early a point, while the gabbled Scherzo is the one example of a serious misjudgement of tempo and the finale also overheats too early in the proceedings.

Stravinsky’s Violin Concerto makes for a weird sandwich-filling, especially since Zehetmair is such a dab hand at bringing out its gleeful-cynical circus-routine antics. I love his rosiny attack and all-round communicative intensity, which together take you so much further inside the music than the high-gloss of a Mutter.

As captured here the acoustic of the Sage, Gateshead, is on the dry side, which is great for clarity, not so good for bloom.