A very enjoyable coupling. Monteux demonstrates that urgency, ardour, even impetuousness, are not at all foreign to Franck's nature, and that Berlioz was one of his ancestors. There is no lack of solemnity or gravity, but the music is kept firmly moving (tempo relationships, especially in the tricky first movement, are very precisely judged) and he sees the chorale in the finale as joyously affirmative, and is not tempted to turn it into an earnest oration. He allows the brass to blare proudly at climaxes and the very clear woodwind detail gives sinew to the orchestral texture throughout.
Munch's account of d'Indy's exuberant hike through the Cevennes is invigorating, too, the theme phrased with tender freshness at the outset, the climaxes exultantly brassy and the jovial dance-finale (the bit everyone goes home whistling afterwards) going with a swing. The Berlioz is good as well, not harmed in the slightest by a less than headlong tempo at the outset, and with wonderfully eloquent string playing. The recordings are a bit raw (adding a by no means disagreeable touch of brashness to all three works) but they still sound very well for their age.'