“[P]ut Simon Rattle in front of a period instrument band like the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment and it’s like having one’s ears syringed. There wasn’t a single moment in either Schumann’s 2nd or 4th symphonies where one felt it was down to the conductor’s sleight of hand to ensure the clarity of inner voices. The revelations weren’t just in textural but harmonic transparency. You listened differently, more attentively, you finally heard what Schumann was about.”