Mariss Jansons opens with a very exciting account of Don Juan, splendidly played, with plenty of impetus, and a touchingly gentle and sensuous account of the seduction scene. His richly expansive shaping of the great horn theme presents the Don as a nobly romantic seducer rather than one carried away by physical passion (as in Szell’s famous Cleveland recording). But this makes a fine introduction to a truly outstanding account of the Alpine Symphony that ranks alongside Wit’s celebrated Naxos version (9/06) with the Weimar Staatskapelle, and in some ways is even finer.

Jansons structures the work unerringly and the Concertgebouw sound picture, with extraordinary vividness of detail at every stage of the journey, is remarkable. The entry into the forest is evocative indeed, as are the hunting horns echoing in the woods, while the spectacle of the storm and summit sequences are electrifying; the closing sequence with the Amsterdam deep brass as night falls has a wonderfully rich sonority. The Concertgebouw string-playing has, of course, an eloquent sweep, and if the violins are less sensuously ravishing than at Weimar (partly the effect of closer microphone placing in Amsterdam) they play particularly beautifully in the score’s gentler moments.

In short, this magnificent performance, gripping from the opening to the last chord, will be hard to beat.