Regional French orchestras might have as much pedigree recording Sibelius as the Finns do making wine, but there aren’t any obvious struggles with the idiom on display in these live recordings. ‘Lemminkäinen’s Return’ journeys along nicely like a forest animal keeping its head low for safety; all the detail is there and the orchestral picture is sharp (in a textural sense – the tambourine cuts through deliciously), even if some of those shape-shifting passages at the apex lack the last ounce of agility.

Coupled with that atmospheric performance of a slice of Lemminkäinen (all seven minutes of it: couldn’t we have heard something more?) is a decent but less remarkable performance of the Second Symphony. Here, Paul Daniel sees the wood rather than the trees, overseeing a performance with admirable sweep and breadth. He caresses the string waves that open the piece but doesn’t quite offer the same shape or clarity of articulation to the big tune that prefaces its coda.

Elsewhere, it’s little details like that which niggle. There’s not enough purpose to those folding-outward pizzicatos in the first movement; the low strings can lack clarity in the second; and frequently we don’t hear the richness of texture offered by the likes of the BBC Philharmonic under John Storgårds (to compare a regional French orchestra with a regional British one). The orchestra doesn’t throb underneath that big tune, the woodwinds can sound bland and there’s some uneasy balance. Cheers greet the end of the symphony and, I’m sure, with good reason – clearly a performance that had a greater impact in the concert hall. A long, beautifully illustrated essay adorns the hardback book but, in common with all the other text, it’s only in French.