Recorded in Rotterdam in March 2010, this release arrived in London in between two LPO concerts of French repertoire by the young Canadian. There, Nézet-Séguin’s rediscovery of Franck’s Symphony both laid bare its Wagnerian influences and wholly avoided the over-brassy blare that many maestros (Beecham definitely excluded) have brought to its weighty instrumentation.

His dramatic and deliberate use of the pauses in the Franck is echoed in this expressive, operatic reading of the Fantastique. The only pity is that the manic – one might risk saying druggy – quality of the performance is not sustained here throughout all the movements, as it apparently was by the LPO. Although he’s not using old instruments, Nézet-Séguin conducts as if he were, with enough lack of vibrato to make Sir Roger Norrington smile and a huge relish of the unpredictability and colours with which Berlioz orchestrated the recurring idée fixe. He’s not afraid of violence, noise or audience-rousing codas – try the end of the first movement or the sweep of the ball – and his scene in the countryside has the dramatic sharpness of Marc Minkowski’s opera-without-words (Brilliant Classics, 10/03R). But the last two movements – another day, another session? – sit on the stands rather than coming out at you as they promised.

The fill-up is gorgeous enough to make purchase obligatory. Both Nézet-Séguin and Antonacci have the measure of this earlier but formally advanced Prix de Rome scène lyrique, whose use of recitative as lyric drama picks up where Beethoven’s Ah! Perfido left off and surely inspired Wagner’s narrations in Lohengrin and Das Rheingold. Excellent sound and balance. I just can’t help wishing this had been an LPO recording of their concert, with the conductor’s view of the symphony so much more played-in and spontaneous.