It would seem that the distinctive sound of French orchestras was vanishing even 20 years ago when this recording was made. You’d hardly be able to tell the nationality of the Orchestre National de Lille, though it plays professionally enough, and there’s little if anything to fault in its execution of the Symphonie fantastique. For that matter, there’s also nothing idiomatically French about Jean-Claude Casdesus’ rather faceless reading from the podium. Far from the excitement and passion found in performances by Munch, Bernstein, and Muti, Casadesus is closer to the sober and straightforward readings of Colin Davis (in his four recordings of the score). Casadesus’ tempos tend to be on the slow side, which doesn’t do much to evoke the passionate delirium that Berlioz’s protagonist experiences in the first movement. The conductor’s plodding cruelly prolongs the condemned man’s fate in the March to the Scaffold and makes the dancing witches in the finale sound as if they need a shot of Geritol. The one place where Casadesus does move things along is in the Scène aux Champs, bringing an insistent drive and continuity to this long movement.
The Lille orchestra produces abundantly beautiful tone, especially from the woodwinds, but the trombones get swallowed up at times, most critically in the final bars where their downward chromatic cackling is barely audible. The recessed recording balance (set in a large, empty hall) may contribute to this performance’s seemingly dispersed energy, but overall you’re better off with the recommended alternatives.
