Franck: Orchestral Music Vol. 1 (1997)

This is the first volume in a projected series of all the orchestral music by Cesar Franck (1822-1890). It won't comprise many discs, since Franck was not particularly prolific in this realm--not prolific, but quite vital, nevertheless.The D Minor Symphony is the major work here, of course, and Benzi's reading of it is on the slow (but not lackluster) side. His tempos, and even to some extent his approach, are similar to the controversial studio performance from the 1950s by Furtwangler and the Vienna Philharmonic. The ... Read More

This is the first volume in a projected series of all the orchestral music by Cesar Franck (1822-1890). It won't comprise many discs, since Franck was not particularly prolific in this realm--not prolific, but quite vital, nevertheless.The D Minor Symphony is the major work here, of course, and Benzi's reading of it is on the slow (but not lackluster) side. His tempos, and even to some extent his approach, are similar to the controversial studio performance from the 1950s by Furtwangler and the Vienna Philharmonic. The latter ensemble has an edge over this solid but less suave orchestra from Arnhem. If comparison between these two recordings continues, it must be noted that the Naxos sound reproduction is vastly superior to the good mono effort Decca's engineers afforded the iconic Furtwangler. Moreover, one also notices that the latter actually sounds slower in the first movement, in spite of his marginally faster tempos (18:03 vs. 18:37). True, Furtwangler effectively harnesses a profound grimness,... Read Less