In my experience there are only two conductors who could have delivered these pungent, characterful and lovingly played performances, Pablo Casals and Sándor Végh. Take the minuscule dramatic pause at 2'58" into Coriolan, the archer poised to let his arrow fly, yet somehow it works and the playing is superb. The ceremonious opening of Mozart’s Haffner Symphony is muscular and broadly paced, the Andante that follows patient and expressively drawn, which makes the swift Minuet and punchy closing Presto doubly effective.

As to Haydn’s Drumroll Symphony, I should warn readers about two sources of irritation. The first is the amount of coughing that bothers the opening of the Andante second movement. This is a great pity because Végh is at pains to draw out the solemn bass-line for those opening bars. Also, in the same movement, in case you check the timing and think that 8'56" is inordinately slow for the Minuet, you would be right. The reason for the timing hiccup is that track 8 actually starts three-quarters of the way through the Andante, thus ‘adding’ an extra four or so minutes to the Minuet (at least in theory).

Back in 2010 a Végh collection of selected Schubert symphonies (formerly) on Capriccio featured as ‘one of the 250 greatest classical recordings, as selected for Gramophone by more than 30 leading musicians’ (6/10, page 31). ‘Collegiate music-making in Schubert’ was the appended critical comment (page 38), a not inappropriate description. This Budapest recording of the ‘Great’ C major is, like its Capriccio alternative, full of energy and personality. The dramatic high points in the second and fourth movements make their full effect and the Scherzo and finale are rhythmically driven, while the transition into the middle section of the Andante con moto is marginally subtler in the version under review. Recording-wise, Capriccio offers a more consistent sound frame, but the musical virtues of both performances are never in doubt. As a matter of interest, comparing one with the other, the movement timings are virtually identical.