Then there’s Mr. van Zweden’s most recent recording, a clean and tidy “Das Rheingold” that’s the start of a “Ring” cycle on the Naxos label, with the conductor at the helm of the Hong Kong Philharmonic, his “other” orchestra and one he intends to keep even after he takes over at the Philharmonic. It has considerable orchestral glories, not least the veiled hints of “Götterdämmerung” that hail Erda’s warning to Wotan, yet his work modestly eschews grandeur in favor of exposing the voices. Look out for “Die Walküre,” due later this year.

Image Jaap van Zweden, earlier this year. Credit... Todd Heisler/The New York Times

And Unsurprisingly Strong In Bruckner

Wagner leads us to Bruckner, and here Mr. van Zweden has come to shine. His earliest efforts with the Netherlands Radio Philharmonic (Exton) are routine, though a slow, simmering Seventh is worth hearing because it’s one of this conductor’s most refreshingly interventionist readings. Far better are the later recordings on the Challenge label: a vibrant First, a fine Eighth, a soaring Sixth and an enthralling Third. While judicious, to my ears his Mahler — a “Das Klagende Lied” from Amsterdam, the Third and Sixth symphonies from Dallas, and a Fifth with the London Philharmonic — never quite hits the same heights.

There’s Plenty of New Music

Many commentators have feared that Mr. van Zweden’s commitment to new music will be shaky, or at least shakier than that of Alan Gilbert, the man he’s succeeding. But Mr. van Zweden’s recordings don’t shy away from modern and contemporary work. By far the weightiest contribution is Steven Stucky’s “August 4, 1964” (DSO Live), a calling card for him and his Dallas orchestra. The care and attention lavished on the score is heartwarming, particularly in the wrenching central elegy, which provocatively conflates the war dead of Vietnam with the murder of civil rights activists.

Unsurprising, given both Mr. van Zweden’s nationality and the social function of the Netherlands Radio Philharmonic, Dutch composers figure strongly. On separate composer portraits released by Etcetera, works by Louis Andriessen, Theo Verbey and Otto Ketting benefit from the conductor’s fastidious approach, as does Tristan Keuris’s Symphony in D. Most bracing is the Norwegian Rolf Wallin’s enormously powerful “Act” (Ondine), a 10-minute battering ram recorded with the Oslo Philharmonic that rumbles along with pounding ferocity.

He’s Solid, and He’s Getting Better

Mr. van Zweden’s recordings are properly prepared and intensely executed, always energetic and always direct. There is no grandstanding. There is nothing that is not deliberate. There is no let up. This is a conductor who knows his way around an orchestra, and a comparison of his earliest and latest recordings with his Dutch and Texan forces is strong evidence that he knows how to make one better. Several of his recordings are very good, including that Stravinsky and the dose of Wagner. None are terrible. A couple — Bruckner’s Third and Sixth, especially — are outstanding.