Familiar to UK listeners from his stint with the London Sinfonietta, though more recently associated with music-making in Melbourne and Cologne, Markus Stenz is often considered a contemporary music specialist, qv his recent “Horizon 1” collection of postmodern provocations (RCO Live, 11/08). That he should now essay a complete Mahler cycle in studio conditions comes as something of a surprise. That he should begin with the Fifth, however, makes perfect sense. It is a score he knows back-to-front, having previously recorded it for ABC Classics during his Melbourne tenure, while the Cologne orchestra’s association with the Fifth goes right back to the work’s first public performance in 1904.

If Stenz’s interpretation is lighter, less insistently emotive than those of past greats, there’s no mistaking the thoughtful intelligence behind his shaping of the symphonic architecture. The playing is never less than squeaky-clean too. While some listeners may find the results underpowered – string tone is not the world’s most opulent and the first two movements have at times a muted, wistful quality – the refinement and freshness prove compelling. The lithesome Scherzo, apparently eschewing Rattle’s would-be authentic upfront horn placement, is an undoubted highlight, the famous Adagietto perhaps less so. This is kept fashionably on the move, not implausibly restrained at the start but lacking Abbado’s unfailing sense of rapture. For maximal intensity at 11 minutes plus, Bernstein’s your man. Stenz’s deft, spirited finale brings threads together without quite the sense of catharsis offered by those listed above.

Crystal-clear, state-of-the-art sound, first-rate design and a helpful bilingual booklet-note add to the attractions of a reading which offers clarity and consistency. Recommended.