I included a sketch of the considered options. It seems that if the driving frequency is closer to the required primary frequency (in the case of a 40kHz Halogen ballast) the pan-flute addition would be unnecessary.

And then I guess it doesn't matter how fast the discharge is if resonant circuits are tuned properly. The critical property of the discharge is to not be so slow as to conduct in the wrong direction.

Interestingly enough I just found out that those 12v halogen ballasts have a halfwave envelope. Not exactly CW.