Kent Nagano’s ongoing Beethoven recording project is one of the most underrated cycles in the current catalogue and this latest release of Symphonies Nos 1 and 7 again proves the point. As with the previous symphonies (Nos 3, 5, 6, 8 and 9), this ‘Departure – Utopia’ (each installment bears a literary title) has all the dynamic contrasts and tempo changes that one would expect from a project that aims to reveal Beethoven the Revolutionary.

But unlike so many other Beethoven re-interpreters who accentuate dynamic contrasts and tempo changes, Nagano never lapses into affectation or sensationalism. Instead, he gets his Montreal Orchestra up on its toes, like a middleweight ducking and weaving while unleashing rat-a-tat volleys that rarely miss. Take the finale of No 1, for instance, which starts so hesitantly that you think it’s a mistake, before that blisteringly quick tempo of the main theme suddenly takes off with such precision of articulation that you have to marvel that somehow it’s completely virtuosic without ever drawing obvious attention to that fact.

The reason is that there’s deep thought behind it all, the intellectual rigour never weighing it down but only serving to heighten the musical assurance – the sure-footedness demonstrating the extraordinary contradiction that this is one of the ‘lightest’-sounding Beethoven cycles, but also one of the deepest in its interpretation. That’s typified by the famous Allegretto of the Seventh Symphony, where it’s all style, simplicity and dance-rhythms, but at the end you’re left moved by its profundity. There are a million recordings of this repertoire and many classics among them, and Beethoven’s name alone carries such weight that the headlines will always go to cycles with blatant gravitas. And that’s why this light, filled-with-life, unpretentious gem of a cycle will probably continue to be underrated until, one day, musical fashion catches up with it.

Limelight subscriptions start from $4 per month, with savings of up to 50% when you subscribe for longer.