Perversely, I was hoping that this Rachmaninov Third Symphony would be a dud, making it easier to recommend unequivocally the recent Noseda/BBC Philharmonic recording on Chandos – fat chance with these forces. EMI (or whatever they’re called now after yet another acquisition) have done their latest star recruits proud in this elusive work, which combines elegance, nostalgia, wistfulness and sheer glamour.

The contoured phrasing is as curvaceous as Betty Grable’s hips (not as bizarre an analogy as you might first think, as this work is as suffused – consciously or otherwise –  as much with the spirit of Hollywood as Romanov Russia).

The RLPO’s string tone is fabulously lush but the playing is refined without ever a hint of blowziness in the “big” tunes, with both pellucid textures and dramatic energy throughout: I’ve never heard the opening of the finale or its reprise at the very end played with such manic velocity, beautifully captured by EMI’s engineers. The central movement has a captivating tenderness and the rhythms in the Scherzo interlude are whip-crackingly precise. Petrenko also avoids the episodic or fragmented approach one sometimes hears.

The other pieces on the CD make it a calling card for the RLPO’s newfound virtuosity. This...