I find myself rather more favourably disposed to this second instalment of Alan Gilbert’s Nielsen cycle than I was to the first (12/12). That’s partly because I think he has a surer grasp of the First and Fourth Symphonies than of the Second and Third, but also partly because I think I’m acclimatising to his approach.

If I have it right, Gilbert is on something of a crusade. He seems enthralled by Nielsen’s invigorating energy and equally so by his lyrical charm. And while the previous recordings erred on the affectionate side, here he is absolutely determined not to interrupt the all-important flow. So the transitions in the Inextinguishable, both within the first movement and between it and the next, are unusually intense, and the later stages of the finale are more jet-propelled than I think I’ve ever heard. The Poco allegretto may not be all that rustic but it is nothing if not refined, and the following Poco adagio is superbly eloquent. Where I was previously concerned about over-prominent timpani, in this melting-pot third movement they are stunning, and they are even more so in the famous finale duels.

In these (patched) live performances a few conductorly expostulations and even foot-stamps are captured. But how can any of the above not be fundamentally a good thing? Well, it has to be said that those transitions don’t feel entirely natural, which may be partly because projection of such intimate phases to a large hall is compounded by close miking. Worse than that, and close to a fatal flaw, is the fact that, far from observing the notated accelerando into the finale coda (which really would have been amazing), Gilbert slams on the brakes and takes the easy diversion into grandiloquence.

No such objections arise with the First Symphony, which is engagingly direct from the weighty yet lithe opening to the blazing conclusion and which is also sensitive to the moments of wonder along the way. Not quite a version to displace the classic San Francisco/Blomstedt on Decca, perhaps, but certainly one I’d be happy to return to.