Intégrale des Symphonies Vol. 1 (1994)

"Charles Tournemire (1870 - 1939) was part of the line of French organ masters and composers who occupied the great churches of Paris. He wrote prolifically for organ, but he composed prolifically for other media and wrote eight orchestral symphonies. He was drawn to mystical subjects, and once said that his music concerned itself with the "glorification of the Eternal." It also drew heavily for its inspiration from nature, particularly the landscape of the Isle of Ouessant located a few miles off Bretagne in one of the fastest currents of the Gulf Stream. His large Second Symphony had been an overt description of that island. The Fourth symphony, by contrast, is a shorter work. It is a fine solution to the problem of the single-movement symphonic form, an idea that goes back to Robert Schumann and which was much taken up in the twentieth century. It makes a longish single symphonic movement but a shortish symphony at 24 movements." (Joseph Stevenson, Allmusic; volg voor volledige beschrijvingen de links)