We thought we had discovered the most unexpected thing in the repertoire of Franz von Suppé (1819-1895), famous composer of Viennese operettas, when his Requiem was released on disk. Of Suppé, we barely know anything other than the overtures, real gems of which Charles Dutoit recently recorded an anthology in Montreal. But here is the revelation of a symphony in proper form, lasting around thirty minutes, entitled Fantasia Symphonica, dating from 1859 and recorded as a world premiere by an excellent Austrian orchestra and its Swedish conductor. First and for good reason: the score has just been found in the Austrian National Library by Ola Rudner and reconstructed by him. It is worthy of the melodic ease of Suppé in a Viennese style, a sort of “solar Schubert” in which the Final, Allegro ma non troppo, is the main, and major, success. Rudner, who also found a prelude composed for the Carltheater in Vienna, completes this useful CD with two extracts from Return of the sailors and two justly famous overtures.
To watch on video