This Eloquence disc conveniently gathers all five of César Franck’s tone poems, which, along with his Symphony in C, constitute the bulk of his orchestral output. Franck’s inspiration ranges from the deeply spiritual in Rédemption (the Morceau symphonique is all that’s usually performed of Franck’s beautiful though somewhat ponderous oratorio), to the poetic (Nocturne and Les Éolides), to prose and mythology (Le Chasseur maudit and Psyché). These last two especially showcase Franck’s skillful, imaginative orchestral writing. Le Chasseur maudit vividly conjures the thrill of a nighttime hunt, while parts of Psyché (particularly the Les jardins d’Eros) point toward Debussy.
Daniel Barenboim (joined by a radiant Christa Ludwig in Nocturne) leads generally excellent performances with the Orchestre de Paris (though Le Chasseur is bested by López-Cobos’ hell-raising rendition with the Cincinnati Symphony on Telarc) in all except Les Éolides, which receives a brightly colored, beautifully realized reading by Ernest Ansermet and the L’Orchestre de la Suisse Romande. The remastered recordings reproduce with satisfying presence, depth, and dynamic range.
