Less than a year since the release of Andris Nelsons’s CBSO recording of Also sprach Zarathustra (Orfeo, 7/14; Philip Clark’s top choice for his recent Gramophone Collection piece on the work, A/14), we have a new version from the Latvian maestro with the Concertgebouw Orchestra – one that allows us to see him in action as well as hear him. C Major’s DVD/Blu ray also includes Till Eulenspiegel, one of the same couplings as the Orfeo disc, but is especially welcome for featuring the oft-overlooked Macbeth.

That work receives a fine, predictably classy performance from the Dutch orchestra, with Nelsons underlining the granitic power of its narrative effectively and bringing especial allure to the characterisation of Lady Macbeth. Despite this, however, it remains a piece that’s difficult to love: compared with the other tone-poems, the motivic working feels a little obvious, the score as a whole too prosaically rooted in a narrative rather than ideas.

Strauss’s great tone-poem ‘after Nietzsche’ is, of course, all about ideas. Nelsons’s interpretation here is in many respects close to his Birmingham account (set down nearly two years before the Amsterdam performance captured here). There’s definitely the same welcome flexibility and lack of grandstanding. His way with the opening is a little more conventional (we don’t have the slide-rule attention to dynamics of the CBSO ‘Sunrise’ or the extraordinary extended rumble that concludes it), and there are other small variations here and there – his ‘Tanzlied’ on this release is a touch more relaxed, for example.

The playing of the Dutch orchestra is, if anything, a whisker more refined but it is also a little less wild in its abandon or impetuous in its yearning. There’s undeniable added excitement in watching the performance, too. Nelsons’s podium manner is relaxed and warm, characteristics that seep through into the playing, while the camera direction is excellent and cannily in tune with the musical rhythms.

Till Eulenspiegel gains perhaps even more from being watched, and the performance here is a delight – mischievous, light on its feet and played with impeccable virtuosity. With excellent sound and picture quality, this disc is highly recommended.