These are good performances and‚ at their price‚ very welcome. Even points that at first sight seem to be blemishes may turn out not to be. The hero’s theme at the outset of Ein Heldenleben‚ for example‚ is very slightly on the slow side‚ not quite as swaggering as it can be; but Zinman is thinking of its reappearance at the end of the battle scene‚ where this tempo gives it a grand dignity (and the climax here is splendidly sonorous). You might think the hero’s adversaries are a little less venomous than they could be‚ but here Zinman seems more concerned to convey the hero’s poignant regret at their wounding attacks. Similarly in Tod und Verklärung the first appearance of the ‘transfiguration theme’ might seem a bit broad‚ but this is amply justified by the serenity of its later amplification. Both scores are satisfyingly rich and massive where they need to be‚ but more delicately textured passages are finely detailed‚ helped no doubt by the spacious acoustic of the Zurich Tonhalle. It was only a month or two ago that I warmly recommended Philips’s reissue of this identical coupling with Bernard Haitink conducting the Concertgebouw. No‚ this is not quite in that class‚ not quite so vividly characterised nor so sumptuously played (though the Tonhalle Orchestra is by no means in the second rank)‚ but Zinman’s readings stand up well to the comparison and can be confidently recommended to any collector on a tight budget.