With Manfred, Fischer offers a lesson in conducting. To the question of how to get people excited with this symphony that seems less inspired than the Fifth or the Pathétique, the answer he offered is multiple: through dramatic intensity; taking advantage of and accentuating the composer’s resources as an orchestrator; of his melodies; of the immense power of the unisons; of the magic of the harp; of the overwhelming role of the double basses and timpani in the low range. Dramaticism in its maximum degree transcends, in instrumental music, any programmatic intention. And all this, only in a first movement that leads to a finale that leaves your soul shrunken. […] Thank you, Thierry Fischer, for rediscovering and opening our eyes to this fantastic symphony for those of us who, through recordings, were unable to understand it.