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Disclaimer: I like my Franck's symphony "Germenic and monumental", probably because I don't love it deeply, so the authentic French way doen't work for me, I find it mawkish.
That said, there's ways to do it and ways not to.
Very interesting (for me) to compare Baremboim's finale with one of my favorites, incidentally with the same orchestra and label, Giulini's.
That also is criticized for being slow and un-French, and actually timings are almost the same.
But in the Giulini I perceive a deep conviction , a rythmic undercurrent that keeps together the whole movement and carries it inexorably to a triumphant finale that's really "final"
I hear nothing of that in Baremboim's, it's very disorganic, and the final bars are underwhelming. 

DH is not the only one: even before seeing his video, I was alarmed by the fact that in the 2 reviews on the set's page on amazon, one from the USA said the sound is "lousy", the other one from germany says "Der Klang ist distanziert und blass" (distanced and weak, according to google)
Usually these "user reviews" are all over the place and do not agree on anything.

make no mistake, I too despise HIP travesties of Romantic repertoire, but here I am a little more hopeful.
I have a few recordings with this orchestra (including the Dausgaard Schumann, which I like very much, finding it refreshingly vigorous).
While interpretive choices could and will be a matter of taste, the Norwegians never sounded undernourished (not too much at least) screechy, or in any way grating to the ear. (in the releases I have..)
Cross fingers.

further listening has, if anything, reinforced my appreciation.
For instance, a session on my primary stereo rig (more state of the art) has furtherly put the spot on the wonderful playing of the Rheinland-Pfalzers......just like in the Stojowski, maestro Wit really makes this orchestra sing.
I'll never get rid of the Sterlings, first of all beacuse the're excellent, and plus there's more music there besides the symphonies, but this is definitely a keeper.
Now I would love to hear these forces in the 3rd, which i think is a very difficult place to realize, and the Sterling, while good, did not quite "do it" for me.

I received it yesterday. I have listened to it only once, so take it as a first impression.
It's a great complement to the Sterlings , because it's intepretively different and personal, as you would expect from a great Maestro.
The 1st: I much prefer this one to the Sterling, it's a more cogent and organic view of the piece.
The 2nd is excellent on its own terms, but I retain a preference for the darker, more coruscating Sterling version.
In general, Wit's tempi are pretty similar to the previous ones,  the difference Is almost always on the plus side, they tend to be slightly longer (a minute or so per movement)
Beautifully played (these German "provincial" orchestras never cease to wonder), beautifully recorded and handsomely packaged..first class productions still exist.

I sadly (because I always want to like the pieces) concur with Alan: I find there is a lot of note-spinning here, and not a lot of symphonic resolution.
I listened to it three times without being able to "nail" the piece, and my attention invariably ebbed away at several points.
The Volbach, for example, is in my opionion a much stranger work.

I just hope that Jarvi père doesn't race coarsely through them like he did with the Scharwenkas for Chandos, a release I frankly disliked.

mine, ordered from musicexport Greece through my Amazon, has been dispatched the other day. I love thse symphonies, especially the 2nd, and I am very curious to hear what Wit makes of them, even if I have nothing to complain about the Sterling. I hope they are "different" interpretations.

right..I wonder if Toccata knows and/or agrees...

These huge differences in release dates are perplexing, especially since Toccata is British.......I've received the cd more or less 3 weeks ago (musicexport Greece via my local amazon)

the youtube video is on the too-short side, but it is actually mildly informative..Maestro Wit comes across as a supernice guy.

fantastic, I really love these, especially the 2nd, and while I agree that the Sterling recordings are great, I am impatient to hear what the criminally underrated Antoni Wit has to say..

I don't have the cd (yet), so I cannot elaborate on the specifics, but I found this review from Australia.
I find it well written, concise but informative, and the overall tone seems consistent with what I am reading here.
A pleasant reading for me.

https://www.classicalmusicdaily.com/2023/05/klenau.htm

I have to admit ( to my great surprise since I fully expected the opposite) that I am enjoying greatly the new Erato set.
I see it not as a substitution, but as a perfect complement to the wonderful cpo set.
About the orchestra: on the booklet they list 42 strings for these recordings, so for a HIP-inspired thing (or whatever you want to call it) this is as beefy as it gets.
True, ensemble shifts in size according to the piece, so they don't always play all together, but the proof is in the pudding, and to my very HIP-intolerant ears the noise they make is anything but undernourished or, God forbid, baroque-y.

I could not agree more! the rewiew not only has an annoyingly snobbish tone, but it is totally off the mark: the Mirecki is excedingly memorable, so much that I had the earworm "problem" with it too, in the beginning.