I cast my vote with whoever wrote the review that Mr Pennycuick read.
English (or any other that I know of) provides so few words for describing
sounds (many sight words, few sound words) that we who love music are
constantly forced to borrow words from elswhere.  Mr. Pnnycuick called
Franck "turgid." I'd guess that what he calls "turgid" is the same sound
that I hear as music obviously written by an organist--that thick,
pull-out-the-stops--especially the octave couplers--sound.  One especially
hears the organist, I think, in Franck's bass lines which typically move in
conjunct, often chromatic, lines.  I play some organ, and my foot almost
involutarily reacts in heel-toe motions as I listen to the symphony.  One
of the most electrifying moments of my life was my first hearing of that
wonderful english horn over pizz strings slow movement.  I was an early
teenager lying on my bed listening to my favorite CM station.  That
movement created one those intense moments of sheer musical ecstasy that I
assume all of us experience a few times in life, like falling in love (we
do don't we? am I the only one whose had such epiphanic experiences a few
times in life?).  I've never been able to make that moment happen again,
but I've never tired of rehearing the symphony.  Perhaps it is not among
the very greatest symphonies historically, but I would hate to lose it.

Roy Ellesen <[log in to unmask]>