I recently witnessed a live 'Choral' which brought home to me that Beethoven's final symphony still inhabits the frontiers of avant-garde composition. What do I mean by that? No composer has grappled so vigorously with the fundamental physics of harmony as Beethoven does in his first movement, then delivered on such a humane and joyful finale.

Not to be muddled with Charles Mackerras's 2006 'official' recording of Beethoven's Ninth on Hyperion—although as both performances were recorded at the Edinburgh Festival some confusion is inevitable—this is an archival 1994 performance, the occasional smudged orchestral entry and a slightly distant recording environment not detracting from Mackerras's heartfelt and gutsy viewpoint. The highlight is a spectacularly well-judged second movement Scherzo, punctuated by insanely hard-hitting timpani eruptions, kept persistently edgy and thrillingly unstable throughout. Mackerras's vocalists are top-notch too, and the long finale is brisk but plugged into seemingly inexhaustible momentum.

With recent state-of-the-nation recordings from Riccardo Chailly and Emmanuel Krivine, no one's going to consider this their 'go to' Beethoven Nine. But Mackerras's account has drive and integrity in spades. A souvenir of a much-loved British conductor.