Sebastian Weigle and his Frankfurt orchestra here reach the sixth volume of their survey of Strauss orchestral works. In doing so, they also reach two of the composer’s greatest works in the genre that he made his own, the tone poem. It makes for a well-filled programme that matches the generosity and warmth that increasingly defines the series – matched by Oehms’s rounded and pleasing engineering.

This means admittedly that in Also sprach Zarathustra one shouldn’t expect the sort of widescreen extravagance of some recordings; nor is the work treated as a showpiece. Weigle is a patient Straussian, his eye always on the bigger prize of symphonic coherence. You’ll hear more thrilling opening sunrises elsewhere, as well as more biting and incisive violins and general virtuosity. Weigle also arguably lets the tension flag a little at times – such as at fig 8, a minute or so into ‘Das Grablied’ (track 5). But few performances build up the textures of ‘Von den Hinterweltlern’ with such eloquence and patience, while Weigle’s gently lilting way with the ‘Tanzlied’ grows to the sort of climaxes – with cultivated, rounded horns soaring aloft – that really warm the cockles. The final minutes of ‘Nachtwandlerlied’, with fine work from the solo strings in particular, are beautifully done.

The performance of Don Quixote is, if anything, even finer. It’s helped by supremely expressive and – ultimately – moving cello-playing from the young Frankfurt-born cellist Isang Enders. Both he and viola player Thomas Rössel (the orchestra’s principal) blend beautifully into the orchestral picture, stepping out with plenty of character for the longer solo passages.

Rössel is expressive and garrulous. His playing is especially delicious early on in the chatty Variation 3, which grows irresistibly in its lyricism. Here as elsewhere Enders plays superbly, singing out his melodies while being vividly alive to the descriptive writing – I particularly like the way he wrings out each last drop from his sodden pizzicatos at the close of Var 8. The orchestral solos are very fine, too, and Weigle is expert, as before, in weaving it all into a compelling whole, while delivering a death scene that is full of feeling and pathos.

Bigger Straussian thrills are to be found elsewhere, as are bigger characters embodying Don Quixote, but this is another highly persuasive release in a series built on the firmest musical foundations.