Even the most ascetic Brucknerian must look for a measure of lyricism and, dare one say it, charm in the Seventh Symphony. Sadly, these qualities were generally in short supply whenever Klemperer addressed the piece. His 1960 Philharmonia recording was never much liked in these columns (Deryck Cooke took particular exception to the slow finale). This live Bavarian reading is not markedly dissimilar. Even the seemingly brisk tempi in the first movement are subject to uncalled-for moments of arrest. Having Jochum’s Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra playing Bruckner on home ground in Munich’s Herkulessaal might be thought to be an advantage, but the orchestra, which Klemperer got to know better in later years, sounds wary and is often tentative in transition.

The Turin Meistersinger Prelude, a very Italian-sounding performance complete with Mascagni trumpets, is a real piece of musical kitsch. Having set out in a neither-here-nor-there kind of way, the Turin players suddenly fall in with Klemperer’s magisterial gait as the contrapuntally complex peroration gets under way.