As the first release on the Cleveland Orchestra’s new in-house label, this three-disc box set stands as a showcase for Chief Conductor Franz Welser-Möst, whose tenure has just been extended to 2027.

Beautifully presented and stunningly recorded, the program consists of two mainstream 20th-century works that are not regularly played: Richard Strauss’s tone poem Aus Italian, and Sergei Prokofiev’s Third Symphony. Another more radical 20th-century work, Amériques by Edgard Varèse, is also rarely programmed. These are flanked by two contemporary Cleveland commissions: Stromab by Johannes Maria Staud, and Okeanos by Bernd Richard Deutsch. The other selection is an arrangement for string orchestra of Beethoven’s String Quartet No. 15, Op. 132.

The orchestra today is not the tightly wound ensemble of George Szell in the 60s, or the lean, brazen team of Lorin Maazel in the 70s. Under Welser-Möst they have mellowed to produce a rich, streamlined sound. It suits the Strauss (although the final “Faniculi funicula” section could have more spark), and works well for the contemporary works, which rely on orchestral colour to maintain interest. In particular Deutsch’s 30-minute Okeanos makes fascinating use of the organ’s sonorities in an orchestral context. (The...