Fanfare Magazine says Manfred Honeck and the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra’s Dvořák & Janáček SACD joins highest ranks:
“What lifts this reading high enough to join the excellent ones one might name from the past (Walter, Kubelík, Kertész, Szell, Giulini, Tennstedt—the list is long) is that Honeck follows through with musical gestures that match all the points he makes in his notes. … Care is lavished on the details of a score that, frankly, is thrice-familiar music. Shedding new light on the Dvořák Eighth is quite an accomplishment, and it sets this recording apart…Also worth comment is the sound from Reference Recordings…the aim is to deliver the blended sound of a full orchestra in a lifelike way. This has been achieved very well; I felt as if I was hearing a concert ambience, even though these are studio recordings. …the orchestra feels at one with their conductor in unfolding so much emotion. … I think their partnership could go far, in fact, because Honeck, now 55, is very secure musically, and he’s shaping the Pittsburgh Symphony with the full cooperation of the musicians. This was happening in Boston under James Levine before his ill-timed departure, and the same with the London Philharmonic under Vladimir Jurowski and the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic under Vasily Petrenko. If you pride yourself on paying close attention to the life of orchestras, such special partnerships are treasurable. This CD is surely the product of one.” —Huntley Dent, Fanfare