Though I yield to no one in my admiration for Silvestrov’s Fifth Symphony, I confess to reservations in varying degrees over the others (to date, 10 symphonies in all). That includes its successor, composed after an interval of 14 years and only finalised in 2000.

Both works belong to the series of “Postludes” upon which the Ukrainian’s reputation has come to rest. Conceived as fragile echoes of a lost golden age, their prevailing moods are of wonder and apprehensiveness, like ripples in pools of memory pierced by painful shafts of light. This is a precarious compositional act: to express something essential about human failure and loss without actually constituting a failure in artistic terms. For me the single-movement Fifth Symphony hits the bull’s eye, thanks to its uncannily timed renewal of ideas through an unbroken span; whereas the Sixth – nearly 10 minutes longer and in five continuous movements – spreads its similarly voluptuously scored ideas more thinly, and I don’t think quite pulls it off. In the 25-minute mainly adagio third movement, for instance, the exquisite arabesques and composed-out echoes are undeniably haunting, but whether they can bear the structural weight imposed on them, I have to doubt.

Silvestrov’s scores display an immaculate calligraphy that matches his fastidious aural imagination. But their demands on performers’ concentration are not easily met. Andrey Boreyko has drawn playing of admirable suavity and precision from the Stuttgart Radio Orchestra, and ECM’s recording quality and supporting documentation are first-rate. Despite my reservations, I would recommend this disc, if not as a first encounter with Silvestrov, then at least as a rewarding follow-up for those already attuned to his unique qualities.