A sinewy, uninhibited Tchaikovsky Fifth – you’d expect nothing less from this source. Dudamel and his young players feed on one another; the exchange of energy is extraordinary. Tchaikovsky’s impulsive changes of tempo feel more naturally impetuous while the phrasing is directly reflected in the sound: just listen to the yearning second theme of the Allegro con anima and the way that the sheen on the violin sound intensifies with the release.

But as with their famous Prom a couple of years back, it’s not just the fireworks but the inwardness of this performance that brings the biggest surprises. The great Andante cantabile horn theme (so soft and consoling) emerges almost imperceptibly from the somnolent harmonies of the lower strings at the start of the movement. It’s like discovering Romeo and Juliet before the unwelcome dawn – the atmosphere is extraordinarily charged. And what sweep the Simón Bolívar string-players lend the second theme, not least in the climactic return. As for the finale – well, there’s nothing like headstrong youngsters to reignite an old favourite: the allegro vivace comes off the starting-blocks at such a blistering pace as to register a nanosecond of disbelief that such a tempo is even possible.

But the real disbelief is still to come. To better this account of Francesca da Rimini you need to go back to Stokowski or Bernstein’s underrated Israel Philharmonic recording. As if the descent into Dante’s inferno isn’t intense enough – Dudamel’s pacing of this lengthy introduction is quite masterly – the whirlwind at its core glows white hot with astonishing virtuosity displayed from every department. Then the loveliest of all Tchaikovsky’s lyric creations brings a limpid melancholy from the solo clarinet – truly times of happiness recalled in misery. And though Dudamel’s tempo rubato in the string-led approach to the climax may not be as abandoned as Bernstein’s, it’s still pretty brave. Hearing is believing in the coda as the trombones and trumpets tumble into the abyss. Exciting? Deliriously so.