Silence, in Mahler’s Symphony No 2 in C minor “Resurrection”, is as vital as the music itself. In the score the composer instructs a five-minute pause between the noisy, massive first movement and the — initially — more genial and delicate Andante. Usually this is treated merely as a chance for latecomers to take their seats and coughers to cough but Mahler wanted it as an enforced moment of contemplation, a collective catching of breath after the prolonged, hell-bent ferocity of that opening statement.

Valery Gergiev, in the latest exciting instalment of his Mahler symphonies cycle with the LSO, didn’t quite observe the full pause demanded — settling for a couple of minutes — but elsewhere his ferocious performance was punctuated by moments of absolute hush. Throughout the 90-minute work, great climaxes explode, with all brass blazing, double cymbals crashing, tympani thundering as if heralding a final cataclysm. And just as your ears can’t take it, there’s suddenly silence for several mesmerising seconds when no one dares breathe.

One observation about Gergiev’s Mahler so far is that he forces the pace and doesn’t allow sufficient space for the deeper structures to reveal themselves. The opposite was true here. The solemnity of the first movement was given almost excessive leisure, sometimes feeling too episodic, yet always holding our attention, thanks not least to the thrilling playing of the LSO. Section soloists, especially trombone, percussion and offstage brass, dazzled and the precision of the pianissimo string playing — already shown to glistening advantage in Strauss’s Metamorphosen — was remarkable.

The LSO Chorus, full-bodied and expertly drilled, sang without scores, voices blending as one. Mezzo Zlata Bulycheva, statuesque and ethereal, and soprano Elena Mosuc, more intense and radiant, delivered their fourth- and fifth-movement songs from within the body of the orchestra, with Gergiev swaying trembling, jumping, crouching, as if he himself was the dynamo, creating every whisper and roar. As the sustained fortissimo last chord ended, many in the capacity audience leapt to their feet. Roll on the LSO Live recording.