Some conductors believe in the composer. Some believe in the orchestra.
Thomas Beecham believed in
Thomas Beecham. Whatever music
Beecham conducted -- be it Haydn or Handel, Delius or Sibelius -- and whatever orchestra
Beecham conducted -- be it the
London Philharmonic Orchestra or the Orchestre National de la Radiodiffusion Française --
Beecham believed that the performance ought to sound like a
Beecham performance. On this disc of the symphonies of Franck and Lalo with the French Radio Orchestra,
Beecham makes two of the most French symphonies of the late nineteenth century sound like
Thomas Beecham.
How does he do it? He takes the themes and pumps them up. He takes the harmonies and pushes them out. He takes the colors and brightens them up. He takes the rhythms and makes them shimmy like your sister Kate.
Beecham makes Franck's chaste Symphony sound like a Piccadilly call girl and Lalo's dramatic Symphony sound like a Trafalgar Square trollop. Because
Beecham believes, the listener believes, and as long as it lasts, it's completely compelling. Even Fauré's melancholic Pavane sounds like a Steppney slattern while
Beecham wields the baton. The French musicians go along with all this and the resulting performances are like a night in Montmartre with Fifi, Gigi, and Nana. EMI's 1959 sound was spectacular and the 2004 remastering is superlative.