Gramophone Magazine has a new review for the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra and Manfred Honeck’s Shostakovich: Symphony No. 5; Barber Adagio for Strings recording in the February 2018 issue:

“Manfred Honeck seems intent on wringing every last drop of drama from the symphony in this live recording. He seizes upon the first movement’s stark juxtapositions. Rhythms in the jagged opening phrases are razor-sharp and urgently dispatched … then the pace eases as the mood becomes more lyrical. … Honeck’s cinematic approach is touchingly effective [in the Largo], with the opening section unfolding in long, flowing phrases, like a slow-sweeping panoramic shot. The finale packs a powerful sonic punch, thanks to impassioned playing by the Pittsburgh Symphony and stellar, rumble-the-floorboards engineering. … On paper, following this with Barber’s Adagio for Strings might appear anticlimactic but on disc it’s convincing. Barber’s idiosyncratic nod to Tudor polyphony – Honeck writes that he transferred vocal-style phrasing from the composer’s choral version – serves as a elegiac yet soothing benediction.”

Full Review on Gramophone.co.uk

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