In describing Iván Fischer’s account of Mahler’s Symphony No 1 with the Budapest Festival Orchestra at last year’s Proms, the word ‘breathtaking’ has surfaced more than once. And indeed, for those looking to relive the experience – as well as others (like me) who missed the event entirely – Channel Classics now has a fine document of Fischer with his players.

‘Breathtaking’ also describes large stretches of this recording. Right from the beginning, Fischer combs through every nuance in Mahler’s score, his brilliant rendering of orchestral sonorities – both individually and blended – deftly recorded by Channel. The first movement alone confirms Fischer’s growing credentials as a major Mahler interpreter. As the piece progresses, however, the results are hardly definitive.

Though this performance has much to offer – poise, intensity, dignity – we shouldn’t lose sight of what it is not: impulsive, folk-like, impetuous. Fischer seems constantly aware of the work’s historic import, with Mahler having grabbed the baton of symphonic tradition from Brahms (who, the booklet-note reminds us, had already written his Fourth and final symphony). Fischer’s tempo and key changes often demand the listener’s attention at the expense of the music’s character (the Scherzo is the most un-Ländler-like Ländler I’ve heard in while).

While Fischer consistently unfolds all the energy of the young Mahler first discovering his musical voice, he doesn’t quite recreate the spontaneity of youth itself. It’s rather as if, in trying to maintain a fresh conception of the piece, he kept thinking about the score a bit too much.