HRAudio.net has an advance ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ review for our upcoming Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra and Manfred Honeck Shostakovich: Symphony No. 5/Barber: Adagio for Strings recording:
“The inevitable question of ‘do we really need another Shostakovich 5’ must be answered with a clear and unequivocal YES. … Recorded in the autumn of 2013 it is only now, almost four years later that…this further example of the extraordinary marriage between Honeck and the Pittsburghers comes to light. … What I particularly like about Maestro Honeck is that he tells the listener how he sees what he plays. His notes are well researched and extremely well written. Reading his views on the fifth correspond to advance listening, making one ready for the thrill when putting it to the test. I was not disappointed. Listening to the first movement one discovers how he has delved deeply into its structure and meaning. Turning it into an open book for any serious Shostakovich addict. He takes about two minutes more than Kreizberg to state his case. And this without any sense of dragging. It’s all about building up tension, opening doors to even the darkest room in the building, bringing light to hidden niches. Letting the Supreme Soviet march to the banal, march-like rhythms, thus conveying their belief that they had taught Shostakovich once and for all a salty lesson, and doing so with the undertone of a composer dumping his nose to the self-proclaimed masters. This is how it should be understood and played. … Manfred Honeck does not just write about these things, he conveys them, too, with his impressive account of Shostakovich’s fifth symphony. Under his baton the spirited and passionately playing Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra proves once again what an immensely accomplished orchestral body it is. … With such an exemplarily recorded Fifth, Manfred Honeck, the PSO and Reference Recordings provide us with an obvious contender for the top of our wish list. Can’t think of any better introduction to their forthcoming European tour, starting at the end of August 2017.” —Adrian Quanjer, HRAudio
Read the full review on HRAudio.net