Langlais's First Symphony is an angry work, born out of the frustrations and horrors of the Nazi occupation of Paris. At times (most pointedly in the closing bars of the first movement) he positively spits with rage and his means of musical expression often seems inadequate to contain his anger. The symphony couldn't be called a disciplined or controlled work, but given its somewhat loose form it can be devastatingly effective. Bowyer has clearly gone for the emotive approach venting his spleen at the microphones and uncompromisingly emphasizing Langlais's frequent outbursts of almost incoherent rage. It doesn't make for comfortable listening, but certainly underlines the starkness of the work.
The most immediately obvious alla Webern aspects of the Second Symphony are its brevity—four movements totalling five minutes compared with 33 minutes for the First—and its desiccated highly concentrated musical language. The profound Christian faith which was the driving force behind so much of Langlais's music finds an outlet here in the first nine notes, which spell out the words 'Dieu' and 'Marie'. The classical French organ composers of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries seem poles apart from Webern, but Langlais absorbed their influence in equally distinctive ways, the most obvious results being the Suite francaise and the Suite breve. What all these works have in common is a restrained language almost devoid of emotional involvement.
The crisp, sharp colours of this large but surprisingly intimate-sounding Canadian instrument coupled with Bowyer's precise and fluent delivery allow the music to speak with perfect clarity and impressive conviction.'