The second Scot to lead the orchestra, Bryden Thomson, maintained the Nordic link with a cycle of Nielsen symphonies.

This elusive quality, which Davis shares with fellow veteran Bernard Haitink, ran through the whole of this final evening of Davis's much-admired cycle of Nielsen symphonies and Beethoven piano concertos, with Mitsuko Uchida as soloist.

Perhaps a third of the audience decamped at intermission, before the Nielsen symphony.

The orchestra's principal achievement for London has been a cycle of the six Nielsen symphonies, completed with Nos. 2 and 3 (430 280-2).

If "Irish radio's largest symphony" sounds like a questionable accolade, you might want to check out the recordings this ensemble has been racking up with the budget label Naxos: its accounts of the complete Nielsen symphonies, just for instance, should establish credibility with any music lover.

His 1933 performance of Carl Nielsen's Fifth Symphony is thought to be the earliest surviving recorded performance of any Nielsen symphony.

Mr. Blomstedt, who in an earlier cycle of the Nielsen symphonies for EMI/Angel proved uncommonly responsive to the present works, is even more persuasive here.

Danacord's set of Nielsen symphonies as played by the Danish Radio Symphony Orchestra carries more authority for two reasons.

The Swedish players had already made that point on recordings, particularly in a first-rate set of Nielsen symphonies conducted by Esa-Pekka Salonen for Sony Classical.

The Nielsen symphonies are at last coming into their own on CD.