Boston Symphony Orchestra, Charles Munch - Franck: Symphony in D Minor, FWV 48 (2016)

The Symphony offers Munch at his most mercurial. The first movement goes with the tensile line favored by French interpreters (compare Martinon and Paray), emphasizing forward momentum, eschewing traditional unmarked ritards. Thus, the horn solo introducing the development stays strictly in tempo; so does the oboe, though the instrument's uneven "speaking" suggests relaxation; finally, the flute is allowed the customary expansion. Even when Munch's impulsive accelerations get carried away - in the development's headlong climax and the overlapping entries in the coda - the Boston Symphony takes the rather manic pacing in stride. After this, the central Andante movement, with its yearning, expressive cantabile, is trim and gentle. The Finale is once again taut and driven, though tempered in spots - the back-and-forth phrases after the second theme (track 3, 1.46 - where an indicated pause is elided, by the way), for example, and that theme's triumphant tutti recap (3.44) - by a surprising rubato. A coherent pulse underpins the tempo adjustments, however, and the performance hurtles to a blazing finish. -- Stephen Francis Vasta