Here’s a handsome Straussian showcase from Krzysztof Urbański and the rebranded NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchester – although these live recordings were made in Hamburg’s Laeiszhalle in 2016, shortly before the new hall opened and the orchestra updated its name. The acoustics of the older hall nevertheless come across well in this recording, while the orchestra’s sound and the conductor’s approach are generous and sensuous: these are performances that are easy to enjoy, informed by sturdy musicality and a solid understanding of the scores at hand.

Don Juan bursts out of the blocks with a big, bright sound. The love scenes are by turns tender and passionate, with Don Juan subsequently extricating with thrilling swagger (this orchestra’s horns are superb); the final peroration of his main theme (from 14'35") is gloriously done. There’s a great deal to enjoy in Urbański’s Till, too, with finely etched wind-playing, plenty of spring in the step but also a generally unrushed attitude, similar to Vasily Petrenko’s superb recent Oslo account (LAWO, 1/20). One wonders, though, whether the big solo run at the end of the leader’s first solo, a bit lumpy here, would have been retaken in the studio.

The album’s main event is a fine account of Also sprach Zarathustra. It starts off imposingly and continues with the same lack of rush we hear in the other works. There’s some glorious string tone in ‘Von den Hinterweltlern’, a lovely sense of sweep in the grand climaxes and a relaxed account of the ‘Tanzlied’ that teems with detail. Occasionally I wondered whether Urbański might communicate more of the grand tension that informs the work – some moments are arguably a little easy-going – and I missed some of the sense of narrative thrust that made Petrenko’s recording so compelling (8/19), but overall this grandly conceived account is highly persuasive and eminently enjoyable.

An impressive album, then, and a fine demonstration of what this orchestra and conductor can do in this repertoire.