Stravinsky would surely have admired the roar and gore of Rattle’s 1987 Rite of Spring with the CBSO but this new version, I suspect, might have left him cold. ‘Too polished’ of course raises the question, what did Stravinsky expect? Did he want the bassoonist to deliberately fluff the opening solo, or for Karajan’s woodwind section to feign ineptitude? Should The Rite be the exclusive domain of amateur and second-rank orchestras to keep the danger properly dangerous?

I’ve been enjoying Tugan Sokhiev’s new Rite with the Orchestre National du Capitole de Toulose for precisely the reasons I find this new Rattle performance tepid. Sokhiev’s ensemble is tight and controlled, yet exudes character and drive. The physicality and coarse shag of the Toulose orchestra’s sound reminded me, of all things, of a 1920s New Orleans jazz band in full cry. And perhaps I might have even looked kindlier on this record had Sokhiev not come my way; ‘The Augurs of Spring’, though, is needlessly mechanistic, while ‘Games of the Rival Tribes’ replaces ruthless drive with romanticism.

Although clearly no one’s idea of a first-call Rite, Rattle being Rattle, there are plenty of details to admire. Second violins suddenly switching from arco to col legno during ‘Augurs’ is a timbral reshading too many conductors skate over; and is it just me, or is Rattle really invoking the sound of Russian choirs in the introduction to Part 2 as the texture thins out around lower strings, bass clarinet and horns? Apollon Musagète is a gift for the BPO strings and Rattle, yes, polishes Symphonies of Wind Instruments until it buffs up nicely.