"It is an enormous piece and it makes a lot of noise," is how conductor Daniel Harding, not without humour, describes Mahler's "Resurrection" Symphony, a work with which he enjoys a long association. As as teenage trumpeter with the National Youth Orchestra, he played in the off-stage band in their Prom performance in 1992. This year's visit with the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra, of which he is now music director, allowed us to hear his own interpretation of the work. It found neither the conductor nor his orchestra at their best.

The performance had all the qualities one associates with Harding's Mahler: a clean directness of approach and an admirable refusal to see the music as primarily neurotic or sentimental. In this instance, however, his fondness for extremes of speed and dynamics tipped towards exaggeration. Parts of the opening movement felt rushed. The finale seemed more episodic than usual. For all his ironic comments about the piece making "a lot of noise", it was the quieter passages that really hit home: those moments of eerie, premonitory calm in the first and last movements; the refined grace of the ländler; the deep spiritual composure of Urlicht.

Urlicht would, however, have been more profound had mezzo Christianne Stotijn not sounded so vibrato-ridden. There were lapses elsewhere, too – moments of imprecision in the playing (unusual for this orchestra), along with some slips in detail. The opening cello-and-bass figure, for instance, was closer to an indistinct snarl than a phrase, not helped by Harding's hurtling tempo and the Albert Hall's cavernous acoustic. Kate Royal was the sumptuous-sounding soprano. The choral singing – from the combined forces of the Swedish Radio Choir and Philharmonia Chorus – was glorious in its warmth and fervour.

• On BBC iPlayer for 30 days. The Proms continue until 13 September.