Resurrection in Venice: David Matthews enjoys a recording of a new realisation of Wagner’s last symphonic sketches

It is well known that, at the end of his life, Wagner had no plans for further operas, and often expressed his intention of composing a symphony, or symphonies, but died before he was able to produce one. In her diaries, his wife Cosima refers to many conversations they had about symphonies, the last one on 11 February 1883, just two days before his death. That day he showed Cosima one of the sketches he thought he might use, one of a number he had made over the past few years.