For many people, it may seem inappropriate to use the terms “exciting” and “classical music” in the same sentence, but they might reconsider if they listened to an altogether stunning new version of Beethoven’s friendliest, most joyous symphony.

If you’re already familiar with the “Pastorale” (officially, the Symphony Number 6 in F Major) then you’ll discover new thrills and revelations in this glorious CD, and if you don’t know this music yet there’s never been a better way to savor it. This brand new release (on the excellent Swedish BIS label) also provides further evidence that in Minneapolis, of all places, a great and world class orchestra has emerged that’s worthy in every way to challenge the legendary bands in Berlin, Vienna, London, New York and Chicago.

For those who’ve seen the 1940 Walt Disney classic “Fantasia,” the Pastorale (in edited form) provides the musical basis for the segment featuring Greek gods and goddesses, centaurs and nymphs and other mythical creatures disporting themselves (sometimes comically) in an Olympian landscape.

Actually, the images Beethoven himself intended to transmit (this is his only symphony in which he wrote explicitly about the feelings and scenes he intended to convey) are far more compelling than Disney’s diversions. The titles for each of the five movements describe an experience that’s simultaneously physical and spiritual. The journey begins with “Pleasant, cheerful feelings awakened by arrival in the country,” as the music suggests the gentle rocking of a coach. The experience continues with “A scene by a brook” (complete with birdcalls and flowing water); a frantic, joyous, celebratory dance by country people, who are interrupted by a sudden (and suddenly ferocious) thunder storm. The final movement, one of the most heart-felt and glorious expressions of religious gratitude ever written by human hands, bears the title: “Shepherd’s Song: Sense of well-being, combined with thanks to the Lord after the storm.”

Beethoven’s music (premiered in 1808 when the composer was 38 and already losing his hearing) is so magnificently tuneful that it sounds beautiful and moving even in amateurish and sloppy performances, but the new edition with the Minnesota Orchestra and their brilliant conductor Osmo Vanska makes the familiar symphony sizzle and explode with fresh energy and inspiration. Recorded in Orchestra Hall in Minneapolis in June of last year, the performance conveys a sense of immediacy and youthful discovery that animates every episode, every phrase. The “arrival in the country” sequence isn’t just a soothing, warm bath of tranquil emotion this time: Vanska and his Minnesotans sound like they’re ready to throw open the door to that horse-drawn carriage, so they can run and leap through the green meadows and fields. The storm, when it arrives, is no mere meteorological episode; in this performance it’s genuinely terrifying, almost apocalyptic. Here, it’s more clear than ever before that Beethoven meant the thunder-claps and the howling winds to represent more than discomfort or inconvenience, and to stand in for all the darkness and menace and malevolence that intrudes so regularly into our lives.

This makes the song of thanksgiving all the more moving, of course, and in this movement the new Minnesota version soars well above all the literally hundreds of previously recorded performances. This hymn goes beyond gratitude, with its aura of rapture, even ecstasy, transporting listeners to a plane of Godly euphoria that Beethoven only reached again toward the end of his life (with the Ninth Symphony, the Missa Solemnis and above all the Late Quartets). Hearing this new CD should convince even the most stubborn skeptic that a classical orchestra, with all members playing their hearts out, can come closer than any other form of communication to approximating the ancient idea of “music of the spheres” – the divine sounds produced by heavenly bodies in their transit through the ether.

Obviously, I’ve always loved this music and I’ve listened closely to dozens of different versions. In fact, on vinyl, tape and CD, I own 14 other performances of the Pastorale. Until now, my favorite was a priceless gem from the early days of stereo, with Bruno Walter conducting the “Columbia Symphony Orchestra” (actually, a pick-up band made up largely of members of the LA Philharmonic) and recorded in the richly resonant acoustic of the Hollywood American Legion Hall in January, 1958. This fifty-year-old product still sounds great (especially in its re-release on Super Audio CD), with its old-school romantic caress of the long, flowing melodic lines and its unique attitude of awe-struck spirituality. Walter, who was 82 when he made this famous recording some four years before he died, certainly counts as one of the greatest conductors in history, and an incomparable representative of the German Romantic tradition that Beethoven himself helped to launch.

Osmo Vanska, on the other hand, is only 55 (still relatively young for a titan of conducting) and he’s been leading the Minnesota Orchestra for just five years. In that time, the fiercely focused Finn has taken a respected regional ensemble and sharpened and deepened and polished its playing to produce a series of Beethoven recordings that have drawn universal acclaim. Their prior performance of the Ninth Symphony, for instance, features the same rapturous mood as this Sixth, with a chorus that sounds absolutely otherworldly and angelic. For those who use CD players with Super Audio capability, the Minnesota series features Direct Stream Digital/SACD sound that’s detailed, deep and dynamically thrilling, but in its Hybrid release format (fully compatible with any and all CD players) it still sparkles.

The bonus on the new Pastorale release is a fleet, frisky reading of the genial First Symphony. If not as thrilling and revelatory as the featured work, this still formidable First once again highlights the crisp, responsive, unfailingly energetic playing of the Minnesotans and their new leader.

And where did this genius come from, with his wire-rimmed glasses, rubbery features, and wild curly hair as weird as his name? He spent most of the last twenty years specializing in Scandinavian music in his native Finland, and I’ve been listening to some electrifying Vanska recordings of Sibelius (with his impressive Lahti Symphony Orchestra) with considerable satisfaction. Since he arrived in the Midwest to revive his reportedly dispirited and floundering Minnesota band, some of the glowing Minneapolis press accounts have labeled Maestro Vanska “the Wizard of Osmo” and there is something unquestionably magical about music-making of this order.

The new CD isn’t particularly cheap (typically, about 17 bucks on the internet or at a store) but most happy customers will listen with pleasure and joy so many times that they’ll make the purchase a bargain.

Official information: BEETHOVEN SYMPHONIES NUMBERS 1 & 6 (“Pastorale”), with the Minnesota Orchestra conducted by Osmo Vanska. BIS SACD-1716.