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]>