Critic Lawrence Schenbeck offers his top 2017 releases in PSAudio’s Copper Magazine and features Manfred Honeck and the Pittsburgh Symphony’s new Shostakovich: Symphony No. 5; Barber: Adagio for strings recording:

“I’ve grievously neglected the fine work done by Honeck in Pittsburgh, a neglect made more shameful because of Soundmirror’s crucial contribution. Whenever I sit down to hear one of these albums, I am drawn closer to the immediacy of live performance than with any other group/conductor/label. It’s all there: the electricity, the fierce sense of concentration, the sheer love of line and of shaping that line, the joy of allowing oneself to be led by a master interpreter and surrounded by other master executants. For those few minutes, it’s the Best Seat in the Best Hall with the Best Orchestra in the world.”

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