This first movement, while fresh and genial, is a little short on mystery...Luisi, like several recent exponents, launches the slow movement with massed double basses rather than that vulnerable-sounding solo instrument of old...Much more convincing is his super-articulate launch of the finale, the whole movement splendidly vivid

There’s refreshingly little of the routine here – the strangeness, the quirkiness of Mahler’s vision are gently highlighted, the whole aided by gorgeously idiomatic orchestral playing full of refreshingly old-world sonorities...There are flashier, noisier, more flamboyant Mahler 1s around. But this one is excellent, and won’t give you tinnitus.