Mahler’s Third Symphony was first recorded commercially in 1951‚ but it was not until the 1960s that the composer was generally seen to tower over 20th­century music much as Beet­hoven must have done in a previous age‚ prompting the familiar glut of recordings. 1960s LPs from the likes of Leonard Bernstein and Jascha Horenstein have stood the test of time. And so too has the 1980 recording by Claudio Abbado‚ one of the undoubted peaks of his DG cycle. Abbado’s lucidity and restraint have sometimes left his audiences cold‚ only pleasing critics whose modernist leanings match his own‚ but that was not the case at the Royal Festival Hall in October 1999 which is the rather surprising source of DG’s new recording. Rather surprising because the decision has been made to remake the sound‚ adding bags of resonance and an exaggerated stereo spread – not quite consistent in focus but probably better than the drier effect in the hall. Even with a high volume setting‚ orchestral climaxes remain reluctant to expand (frustratingly so at the end of the first movement) while anything below piano lacks focus (worryingly so at the start of the fourth). Still‚ the ear adjusts‚ and DG has not tried to sanitise proceedings: coughs‚ platform noise‚ applause (more than three minutes’ worth)‚ suspect intonation and the occasional split note from the brass are all allowed to stand. Not that too much should be made of these things. The ravishing string playing in the second movement – not a scampering semiquaver out of place – shows just why the Berlin Phil continues to deserve the soubriquet ‘great’. And if there is a sense of the orchestra tiring towards the end of the evening‚ that is surely how it should be. Adopting a rather deliberate tempo at the start‚ Abbado still manages to avoid the heavy‚ saturated textures you might be expecting and is particularly good at evoking the music’s sunlit‚ rustic elements with unaffected warmth and elegance. The playing is always precisely balanced and unanimous‚ and in the finale‚ one is struck once again by how much a truly great string section can add to the impact of an interpretation. Abbado begins almost coolly‚ but the music grows inexorably into something very special indeed‚ as passionately elegiac as you could wish. The excellent Anna Larsson is no stranger to her part‚ having appeared on Salonen’s cool but superbly recorded Sony version. Here she has to contend with a more literal reading of the fourth movement’s hinaufziehen marking‚ as also favoured by Sir Simon Rattle and Michael Gielen: Salonen’s allusion to bird cries is more discreet‚ while Jessye Norman remains the more imposing figure on Abbado’s earlier set. How to sum up? The new Abbado may not be the audiophile choice – the final climax is perfectly paced but unavoidably harsh – and his unexaggerated way with the music won’t appeal to everyone. That said‚ I have rarely heard a performance more alive to the finer points of its sound world. Dispensing with any makeweight‚ DG at least gives us a detailed note by Donald Mitchell; thanks to the ample provision of index points‚ you can even programme out that intrusive applause! While it’s not quite the first choice that might have been hoped for‚ it’s a by no means negligible addition to the Mahler discography.