Album: Schumann, Symphonies 1 & 2 / Royal Stockholm Phil (Sony)

Best known for his interpretations of late-Romantic and contemporary music, Sakari Oramo delivers an attractive reading of Schumann's Symphonies 1 and 2 with the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic.

The textures are clean, with zingy articulation and a fresh, virile sound from the horns. If the Larghetto of the First Symphony is a little fatty, the same is true of the Second's Adagio. Yet the Scherzos of both have a pleasing weight without losing propulsion, while Oramo's Allegro molto vivace is properly bracing.