Good things, they say, come to those who wait. The first instalment of Vladimir Jurowski’s Tchaikovsky cycle – the Manfred Symphony – was recorded live in December 2004, one of the early releases on the London Philharmonic Orchestra’s own label. The numbered symphonies were well received in these pages, praised for their ‘imaginative spark and spontaneity’ (Andrew Achenbach on No 1) and ‘fierce intensity’ (Edward Seckerson on No 5). With the Little Russian Second and the Polish Third recorded in the Royal Festival Hall in 2016, Jurowski’s cycle finally reaches completion. I welcome it with open arms, albeit with a clunking caveat. In the meantime though, another Russian heading a British orchestra – Vasily Petrenko and the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic – has issued an excellent cycle, providing my comparative listening.

Of those symphonies previously released, a quick recap. Jurowski makes a great case for Winter Daydreams. There’s crispness to the LPO woodwind-playing and the finale has the infectious spirit of a Cossack dance. Fate looms large over the Fourth, a taut, gripping reading, while the Fifth has an emotional sweep that’s easy to get caught up in. The Pathétique isn’t always consistently moving, although there’s a graceful lilt to the 5/4 Waltz and a steady pulse to the tragic finale. Jurowski’s Manfred is exceptionally fine, full of Byronic angst, even if Petrenko’s is a shade more impetuous. The LPO recordings are warm, strings to the fore, with woodwind brilliance only occasionally compromised by the hall’s acoustic. Applause is retained after most, but not all, performances.

The Little Russian contains joyous music, joyously played. Jurowski harries along the Andantino marziale second movement a good minute faster than Petrenko, and the Scherzo is bracing, punctuated by whistling piccolo outbursts. After a grandiose introduction, the finale trips along in buoyant spirits, conjuring up, as Stephen Johnson suggests in his excellent programme notes, ‘the smell of vodka, the twang of balalaikas and the creaking of leather boots’.

The Third is a stranger to many concert halls. Its five movements are infused with dance. Indeed, you’re more likely to encounter it (in slightly truncated form) at the ballet, either in Balanchine’s Jewels or MacMillan’s Anastasia. It forms the exuberant highlight of Petrenko’s cycle, although Jurowski comes close to it for ebullience. The LPO is light on its feet in the Alla tedesca and the Scherzo, the latter containing much witty woodwind banter. Jurowski keeps the central Andante elegiaco flowing, while the finale – whose polonaise style gives the symphony its (misleading) Polish nickname – is full of pomp. Also new to the catalogue are an elegant Serenade for Strings and, recorded in Snape Maltings, a dramatic account of Francesca da Rimini that leaves scorch marks.

The caveat? If you’re new to Jurowski’s cycle, then happily add this to your collection (as long as you have already bought Petrenko and his Liverpudlians, please). However, if you’ve invested in previous issues, brace yourself. The LPO has no immediate intention – so far as I understand it – of issuing the Second and Third on a separate disc. So if the previous three releases are pining on your shelves to be joined by the Little Russian and the Polish … you have to splash out and duplicate five discs. It’s a frustrating decision and one that could lose the LPO considerable goodwill. Let’s hope the powers that be see sense and offer these two symphonies on a single-disc release because the performances are terrific.