These days Finnish or Finnish-trained conductors come in all shapes and sizes. That said, the boisterous physicality of Santtu-Matias Rouvali feels like something else again. Prokofiev’s Fifth has been something of a calling card for him and on one level his interpretation occupies the middle ground between the grandiose and the driven, tendencies exemplified by Herbert von Karajan (DG, 6/69) and the young Mariss Jansons (Chandos, 5/88). The devil is in the detail.

Rouvali’s first movement has plenty of meat on its bones even when moving forward apace. With greater clarity in the bass than Vasily Petrenko’s recent Oslo recording (LAWO, 1/21) you can actually hear what the tam-tam is doing – Rouvali began as a percussionist after all. There is also some customarily inaudible harp. Less convincing are the agogic distortions, possibly intended to undercut all that state-sponsored optimism, though Petrenko is glummer. He is tauter, too.

In the Scherzo Rouvali rather spoils things with his mannered, eleventh-hour pay-off. His slow movement is almost upbeat, no sorrowful dirge this, and some will enjoy the bold blare of the Philharmonia – at least until the ‘one last heave’ lunge at fig 74 (9'14"). There are subtler nuances elsewhere. The freshly characterised finale surprises initially by virtue of its restraint. Rouvali goes on to marshal darker currents with aplomb, as the music (or is it the state?) makes a frenzied effort to maintain its heroic facade.

Finally there is the question of value for money. While Sakari Oramo’s unfussy, all-Finnish Fifth (Ondine, 12/12) would not be my own first choice, those wedded to physical format should note that it comes on a sound carrier also accommodating Prokofiev’s Sixth Symphony. Like Rouvali’s debut recording with the Philharmonia, a miserly selection from Tchaikovsky’s Swan Lake (A/20), the present release is taken from a concert performance with applause excised. The close, rugged sound is appropriate enough but with annotations and design below par the product risks coming across as a distinctly overpriced souvenir.