Manfred's makeover: Byron's gilt-tripper carries a little extra weight.

Toscanini venerated it, Tchaikovsky threatened to burn it. Semyon Bychkov delves into the mysteries of Manfred.

Russian conductor Semyon Bychkov is a life-long Tchaikovsky devotee, and the Tchaikovsky Project is a personal homage to the composer with whom he first fell in love. The Project consists of performances in London and New York (initially), plus recordings with the Czech Philharmonic for Decca. The first of these is the monumental “Pathetique”, a musical autobiography of Tchaikovsky’s short life of 53 years. Its devastating final movement has been the source of much speculation, but for Bychkov, “it’s obvious to me the whole piece is a protest against death… the last movement tells us that the triumph [of the previous movement] is just an illusion. Death can’t be avoided, but the anger in the music tells us Tchaikovsky refuses to accept it.” It’s paired with another slice of doom-laden anguish, the instantly recognisable and gorgeously lyrical Fantasy Overture, inspired by art’s most famous lovers, Romeo and Juliet. Bychkov immersed himself in Tchaikovsky’s letters and other archival material and insisted on “unusually luxurious” recording conditions in order to “invest everything” in these sessions. The result is a robust, lush reading, deeply Romantic with well-paced climaxes rich in emotional intensity. Beautifully recorded in the Rudolfinum in Prague and accompanied by effusive…

Henri Dutilleux (1916-2013) had a long and productive life but worked in a slow, meticulous manner, which explains why this almost complete edition of his music only runs to six CDs. Missing is an immature ballet score Le Loup (The Wolf). Georges Prêtre recorded excerpts from it in the 1960s for EMI but evidently Universal was unable to license them, even though this set contains recordings from several diverse sources. The bulk of Dutilleux’s oeuvre is represented here – from his early Symphony No 1 and Piano Sonata of 1947/48 to his final orchestral work The Shadows of Time and Le Temps l’Horloge, an orchestral song cycle completed in 2009 and dedicated to soprano Renée Fleming (who sings it here). Because of Dutilleux’s magnificent sonic imagination and perfectionist attitude, every piece in this set is significant. The major large-scale works are his two symphonies – the Second (Le double), is more of a concerto grosso – and his concertos for violin and cello. The First Symphony (1951) emerges from the world of Roussel and Honegger, yet the composer’s fastidiousness is evident in the carefully balanced textures and succinct musical argument. (These traits would become even more pronounced.) Martinon conducts the…