As a great admirer of Lalo's Symphonie espagnole and his (unjustly neglected) Namouna ballet music, I have always resisted his Symphony. However, Sir Thomas Beecham played it a lot and that is distinguished advocacy. The choice of a church for its recording venue (in this case, St Barnabas, Mitcham) was unwise. The scoring can and does sound Schumannesque in the worst sense and also heavily Wagnerian at times, especially the entry of the brass at the end of the slow movement. Here the resonance tends to make the textures seem unnecessarily thick, although the strings are gloriously rich. In spite of all Butt's considerable efforts (and those of Beecham before him) the portentous first movement doesn't really take off. Though the Adagio is undoubtedly eloquent, it is the scherzo that really springs to life, while the finale is jolly enough.
When one turns to the independent Scherzo in D minor, however, one encounters a much finer work, with a powerful impetus. Le roi d'Ys is hopelessly melodramatic in an endearingly gallic way, at times rather vulgarly scored, and admirably suitable for playing at the sort of grand public occasion the French excel in celebrating. It is given a thoroughly rumbustious performance here, of which Sir Thomas would have approved. The Rapsodie norvegienne derives from a Fantaisie norvegienne, a concertante work with solo violin. One can spot the solo violin line, now more fully textured; the second part of the work is more fulsomely scored, jovially energetic, but a bit repetitive.
Throughout this concert the RPO throw themselves into the music with ardour (they obviously hugely enjoy the sheer noise of Le roi d'Ys) and Butt is good at polishing the edges, chosing apt tempos and making everything hold together. I wish the recording had been a shade less overwhelming, but it certainly produces some spectacle from the brass in the Overture. There is no current competition for this music in the Gramophone Compact Disc Catalogue, although Beecham's 1961 recording of the Symphony for EMI will surely return soon. Meanwhile Laloians (are there many I wonder?) can rest assured that Yondani Butt does his best for this recalcitrant Symphony, which, however, is not a patch on Bizet's.'