A Nutcracker is for life, not just for Christmas. Or perhaps not. Valery Gergiev has abandoned his 1998 Philips recording (with his Mariinsky Orchestra, then still called the Kirov) in favour of a brand new puppy on the orchestra’s own label. Rather than sprinting through the ballet in 81 minutes to squeeze it on to a single disc, he takes a marginally more leisurely 84 minutes, entailing a second disc, but enabling another re-recording: the mighty Symphony No 4 in F minor.

Gergiev’s first Nutcracker was breathless in places but it bristled with action in a hyperactive sort of way. Most of the dances here are fractionally slower, apart from the ‘Arabian Dance’, which is ushered along the sand dunes with undue haste on a cushion of swooning strings and sinuous woodwinds. The ‘Waltz of the Flowers’ is now a much more relaxed affair, giving Tchaikovsky’s waltz space to blossom.

Gergiev is a man of the theatre and, unsurprisingly, the big moments are powerful: those arching phrases as the Nutcracker leads Clara off into the Land of Snow are glorious, as is the sumptuous pas de deux for the Sugar Plum Fairy and her Prince. The Mariinsky recording subdues the treble to some extent, meaning less percussion glitter and sparkle than on Philips’ yuletide confection, but it carries greater bass weight.

If the new Nutcracker is a matter of swings and roundabouts, then Gergiev’s second recording of the Fourth Symphony is definitely an improvement on his insipid 2002 Vienna Philharmonic effort. Fate looms larger for the Russians, with lugubrious woodwinds and grainy lower strings to the fore. The second-movement Andantino is taken much more slowly this time round (11'27"), Gergiev adding nearly two minutes to his Vienna account. After the plaintive oboe solo, he draws such restrained string playing that the flute counterpoint (bar 85, 3'05") to the violin melody really sings forth. The pizzicato Scherzo flicks and darts along before the finale whips up excitement, albeit not on the manic, hair-raising scale of Evgeny Mravinsky and the Leningrad Philharmonic. A stocking-filler to suit most ardent Tchaikovskians this Christmas.