Berglund once remarked that ‘Sibelius’s music is often ruined because it’s too strictly accurate…Georg Schnéevoigt once complained that he couldn’t get the details out of Sibelius’s scores. Sibelius said that he should simply swim in the gravy.’ Listening to this live account of the Fifth, one might be forgiven for thinking Berglund had taken a dip himself. The winds are loose in the opening paragraph with doubtful intonation and, while atmospheric, this reading would be deemed wayward were it under any other baton. The third of the finale’s climactic chords is downright sloppy (quickly remedied in the fourth), a by-product of almost gravitational braking applied in the Un pocchettino largamente. In between is a reading at times of masterly insight, very different in pacing to Davis, Vänskä’s recent Minnesota recording (my preferred version) or in certain respects his own previous recordings, and with some magnificent moments.

The Sixth fares rather better, ensemble and intonation under control, much closer in feel to, say, the Helsinki Sixth (the opening movements slower in London, the final pair fleeter). Vänskä’s Lahti Sixth as well as Berglund’s earlier recordings are undoubtedly the more consistent and enduring readings but this new disc casts a different light on his views of these great works. Nicely remastered, the disc concludes with a dark-hued Swan of Tuonela.