Hannu Lintu’s Ondine recording of Enescu’s Second Symphony (10/12) was shortlisted for a Gramophone Award. Some years ago I interviewed Yehudi Menuhin when he had just toured the Second and he confessed to me his view that it is an absolute masterpiece. The Third was written between 1916 and 1921 and is structurally freer than its predecessor, rather more exotic in its sound world too, though the opening of the third movement unmistakably recalls the beginning of Siegfried’s Death from Götterdämmerung. Time-wise alone Lintu marks a dramatic contrast with, for example, Ion Baciu (Marco Polo), whose first movement is broader by a full three minutes. Gennadi Rozhdestvensky (Chandos) draws an even more expansive 20'29" and marks significant broadenings in the second and third movements, too. But tempo is less of the essence than balance and expression, and what I especially appreciate about this production is its clarity, a crucial virtue in music that can summon some pretty crowded climaxes. You only need to venture two minutes into the opening movement to sample the first of them.

Discursively argued, texturally complex, sensual, bracing, harmonically daring and thematically varied (with a marked Eastern slant), Enescu’s Third Symphony suggests a composer in love with the process of composing: witness the gorgeous sounds that emerge at around 3'40" into the first movement or the Mendelssohnian filigree touched by a hint of Mussorgsky at the start of the second. The symphony also combines palpable spirituality with a deeply Romantic core. Inevitably there are discernible stylistic derivations – it’s sometimes fun trying to identify them – but the sheer exuberance of the writing is moreish in the extreme and the finale, with its atmospheric use of a chorus, suggests parallels with Enescu’s even less familiar symphonic poem Vox maris.

The Overture on Popular Romanian Themes carries on where the Romanian Rhapsodies and Third Violin Sonata left off, folk ‘field’ music delicately scored, full of yearning and with a keen sense of the open air. Other recordings of the Third Symphony come as part of Enescu orchestral cycles under Lawrence Foster (EMI), Horia Andreescu (Olympia) and Cristian Mandeal (Arte Nova), all of them employing subtly different palettes if without the fine-tipped detail afforded to Lintu and his Tampere players. If pressed to choose, they would mark my first port of call.