A grander, more spacious and slightly less detailed account is provided by Disc G but the extraordinary depth and richness of the recorded sound almost carries the day. In this more leisurely approach (22:58), everything is carefully weighed, beautifully balanced and executed in thrilling high definition; this is a big, blowsy, sonic spectacular which nonetheless encompasses the moments of sweetness and regret. The slightly more deliberate tempo, in combination with the subtle anticipation of the first beat in those oddly disconcerting 5/8 bars, create more tension and menace than we encounter in the more restrained beat in disc F, and the extra two minutes taken serve to intensify a sense of finality as the music dwindles to its hushed close.

For many classical music lovers who listen to FM radio, WBEN-FM is the station of choice. I listen to it in my car and recently I heard, not on the same day, outstanding performances of two long time favourites, Tchaikovsky’s Manfred Symphony and Rachmaninov’s Symphonic Dances, opus 45. I sat in my driveway waiting for the extras to identify the recordings. As it turned out, they were both Naxos. Tchaikovsky was played by the Liverpool Philharmonic under Vasily Petrenko (8.570568) and the Rachmaninov featured the Royal Philharmonic conducted by Enrique Batiz (8.550583). I acquired both discs and found them to be all that I expected both in the high octane performances and wide-open, dynamic sound. I recommend them enthusiastically.