Jeremy Reynolds reviews Manfred Honeck and the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra’s new Bruckner: Symphony No. 9 recording in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette: “To get right to it, it’s a masterpiece. Music director Manfred Honeck and the orchestra recorded the symphony last year during three live concerts — reviewed here — and again partnered with recording engineers from Soundmirror of Boston. Bruckner’s ninth is a beast. Even in its unfinished, three-movement state, the symphony runs just over an hour. The…
The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette has a review for the new Pittsburgh Symphony and Manfred Honeck recording of Beethoven: Symphony No. 3 and Strauss: Horn Concerto No. 1 with a headline declaring that it “grabs your soul (rewind) and grabs it again.” “Most people have experienced musical recordings that, no matter what genre, demand to be listened to over and over again. These moments hold some sort of power over your soul; you hum and whistle them,…
Order Now The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette is adding to the excitement of the Pittsburgh Symphony and Manfred Honeck’s European Festivals Tour by imagining what a ticker-tape parade might look like upon their return: “It was a spectacle with which Pittsburghers have become quite familiar: this city’s beloved champions proudly rolling down Grant Street in resplendent victory after another successful season. Even as the cheers and chants from last year’s parade were still reverberating, the time had…
The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review and Pittsburgh Post-Gazette offer previews of what to expect in the new Pittsburgh Symphony recording of Suites from Richard Strauss operas with reviews from the ensemble’s performances of the works: “The concert opened with Honeck’s ‘Elektra Suite,’ which the conductor created with Tomas Ille. Strauss’s opera is even more brutal, sensational and progressive in compositional style than his previous opera ‘Salome.’ His use of bitonality preceded Stravinsky’s in ‘Petrouchka’ by several years.…