The topic of love and death unifies the works on this disc, yielding a programme that sits better conceptually than it does musically. As such, I’ll evaluate the performances on their own terms.

Wagner’s Prelude and Liebestod stands out for the mellifluous blend between orchestral sections, and the burnished yet never excessive string tone that Jakub Hrůša obtains from his musicians parallels Herbert von Karajan’s sonic paradigm. In other words, the woodwinds and brass don’t cut through the climaxes in the manner of Szell in Cleveland (Sony) or Toscanini with the NBC SO (RCA).

Mahler’s Totenfeier moves at a decisive and incisive pace with plenty of linear clarity (and the low brass to the fore), with far more local colour and personality than in the relatively faceless Boulez/Chicago version (DG). It makes one want to hear how Hrůša might treat Mahler’s superior revision in the form of the Second Symphony’s first movement, not to mention that work’s remaining four movements. My only quibble about Hrůša’s gorgeously spun-out Fifth Symphony Adagietto concerns the arguably overloud harp-playing.

Lively violins, agile woodwinds and characterful first-desk soloists grace Death and Transfiguration. However, the slightly diffuse loud tuttis and sometimes recessed bass lines undermine the music’s eruptive moments, while the ‘transfiguration’ theme in the brass doesn’t quite glow to the opulent standards of Karajan’s 1982 recording (DG, 5/83, 2/84), nor match the San Francisco SO’s shimmering transparency under Herbert Blomstedt (Decca, 7/98). This is not to disparage the orchestra’s world-class execution nor Hrůša’s fluid mastery, yet it cannot be denied that they face formidable catalogue competition.