With all of the recordings of the Brahms and Debussy pieces, might the main attraction here be Janet Baker? No. The full Chausson title (Poeme de l’amour et de la mer) isn’t listed more prominently because the piece is only excerpted in the form of a bonus track, since it was part of the live 1975 programme recorded here, previously released in full on BBC Legends. So this is yet another instalment in the growing live discography of Evgeni Svetlanov with non-Soviet (and more polished) ensembles. I’ve yet to hear anything that equalled the late-in-life live encounters I heard from him on tour but this is a formidable example of who Svetlanov was.

The LSO weren’t in their absolute sturdiest form in the Brahms performance, which nonetheless has distinctive qualities, though ones best caught on headphones. The architectural basics are well accounted for in a cogent interpretation whose tempi don’t veer anywhere close to extremes. The middle movements often have a dreamy, gossamer quality and are skilfully built in ways such that the thematic material is revisited with an ever-progressing escalation of meaning.

Similar to the Brahms, the Debussy has its moments of ragged chord tunings in many of the usual places. Also the intoxicating piling-on of sonorities was probably best appreciated in the concert hall (and, judging from the audience reaction, appreciated greatly). As it stands in this 1975 taping, Svetlanov brought no distinctive sonority to the piece but brings the first and third movements to thrilling conclusions by favouring percussion and breaking with his usual moderate tempi (awestruck slowness in the first movement; frenetically fast in the third). The all-too-briefly heard Baker has a bit of brittleness in her voice, giving it all the more character amid her typically shamanistic relationship with the words and a sense of abandon not often heard in her studio recordings.