Non-operatic Suppé world premiere recording

[Alan Howe]

I can't see this recording doing Ola Rudner's reputation any good. His CD of Sgambati symphonies was really worthwhile, but this is a dud.

[eschiss1]

He also recorded some Audite discs of music by Eduard Franck, I see. I haven't heard them yet (I intend to), so I can't judge his conducting...

[Alan Howe]

The conducting's perfectly fine, but the music's just not worthy of his talents. IMHO, of course.

As far as I know Rudner has only made one CD of music by Eduard Franck for Audite.

[eschiss1]

You're probably right, I'm not sure why I wrote that. This one from 2012 and containing somewhat miscellaneous works- will still look into it
Presto has 81 recordings in his discography when one includes compilations some of the works in which are from recordings of his. And as you say, you're not criticizing his conducting here. I wasn't aware his discography was so large though, anycase (well, ok, medium-etc.) (The other big thing that's relevant to us may be his recording of Saint-Saëns' Le déluge.)

[Ilja]

The scrappy strings are a bigger problem than the repertory as far as Mr. Rudner's reputation is concerned, I think.

I've finally been able to digest Suppé's Fantasia Symphonica and while it may be fantastic, it certainly doesn't appear to be particularly symphonic. "Awkward symphonies by representatives of other genres" is something of a subgenre in itself, it seems - one characterized by the composers' steadfast refusal to conjure up anything approaching a "symphonic argument". There's Bellini's symphony and Verdi's three Sinfonias", all of which wouldn't sound out of place as orchestral sinfonias in the middle of one of their operas (and in Verdi's case, were in at least one case). A particularly interesting parallel case is the Maltese Paolino Vassallo, a composer of predominantly sacral works whose single symphony always sounds as though the choir may come in any moment - but never like a symphony. But even set against all of those, Suppé's work mostly feels like a waste of three overtures.

[Alan Howe]

I was hoping for something that would at least be entertaining, but this is just trash. Some music is best left undiscovered and unperformed.

[Ilja]

I think it is partly entertaining trash, but trash nonetheless. It just baffles me that someone who is such a master in one musical genre can show such an utter lack of understanding of another. Set that against people like Bretón and Chapí, Zarzuela (similar to Operetta) composers who composed really worthwhile orchestral music.

[eschiss1]

Over a century's use of the word "fantastic" as a judgment of quality (as opposed to its varied musical history- English phantasies, Mozart fantasies, Schumann fantasiestücke, Berlioz symphonie fantastique ...) leads to weird puns...

[Ilja]

Great observation: if someone includes both "fantastic" and "symphony" in the title, it's inevitable to draw comparisons with Berlioz, leaving poor Franz with little opportunity to shine.

[eschiss1]

To be fair, the number of fantastic symphonies/symphonic fantasias between Berlioz and Martinu is not small.

[TerraEpon]

It's melodic enough -- and I suppose perhaps as a knock against it 'obvious' enough -- that I could actually hum along with it the first time. Honestly I really enjoy it. Melodic bombast is really up my ally.

[Mark Thomas]

"A genuine, sensational discovery", "Wonderful", "Great stuff", "One of the great, mid-century, Austro-German symphonies -  no question about it, hands down" - these are David Hurwitz's verdicts on Suppé's Fantasia Symphonica in his latest YouTube post! Was he listening to the same work as the rest of us? Oh yes, he played the end of the finale. I'm utterly gobsmacked. Maybe he owed Naxos a favour....

[terry martyn]

I have managed to collect almost every nineteenth-century symphony that's been recorded. There's a few that I can't get to grips with (the Neukomm,for example) and one or two that I find utterly banal. If the Suppe was really a symphony (and I reckon it isn't),it would fall into the latter category for me. I can't fathom Hurwitz's comments,either.

[Alan Howe]

Did he mean it ironically? That'd be his only get-out clause.

[terry martyn]

Did my ears deceive me,or did he say something left-field about Sullivan in that post (for good measure)?