Gounod’s two symphonies are delightful. The First was the obvious inspiration for Bizet’s Symphony in C, and while it isn’t quite as tuneful, it’s only marginally less charming. The Second is bigger, with hints of Beethoven here and there, but still very French in its polish and deftness. These are good performances, and they might have been excellent but for a few points: Patrick Gallois adopts a very slow tempo for the First Symphony’s second movement, an allegretto moderato march that doesn’t need to be as quick as, say, Marriner plays it (on Philips), but neither does it need to be twice as slow. The scherzo also comes off as slightly under tempo, although bringing the music closer in style to its minuet origins is surely a legitimate interpretive point of view.
Similarly, the finale of the Second Symphony demands a swifter basic allegro and lighter articulation to ideally realize Gounod’s intentions, though absent real-time listening comparisons you might not notice anything amiss. Certainly, Gallois successfully avoids any suggestion of heaviness or sluggishness, and one reason is that the playing of the Sinfonia Finlandia is very crisp and nicely transparent throughout, with some spirited contributions from the winds and firmly rhythmic interjections from trumpets and timpani. In truth, there aren’t so many versions of these works available that collectors are spoiled for choice. At Naxos’ price, and with warm, clean sonics, I can recommend this release with reservations if you can’t locate the Marriner (which also finds room for the Faust ballet music).
