MusicWeb International‘s John Quinn had yet to hear a Manfred Honeck or Pittsburgh Symphony recording before listening to our new Dvořák/Janáček SACD, and based on this review, it won’t be the last:
“I very much respect Honeck’s thoughtful and often perceptive approach and I loved the freshness of the performance. I love this symphony – it’s my favourite Dvořák symphony – and I greatly enjoyed this performance. … All of which leads me on nicely to say firstly that throughout both items on the programme the orchestral playing is magnificent. The soft playing, especially in the symphony, is quite marvellous while loud passages find the players delivering powerful, exciting sound without ever forcing the tone. Manfred Honeck clearly has a very fine and responsive orchestra at his disposal and he’s evidently trained them exactingly and well. The recordings are made by Soundmirror of Boston and they have produced some very fine sound here. … I’m glad to have experienced a Manfred Honeck recording at last and I’m even more glad that it’s lived up to the expectations raised by seeing him live in Prague. In the booklet we are told that several more Honeck/Pittsburgh recordings are ‘in the can’ and that the intention is to issue a couple each year. I look forward to more examples of this fine partnership at work.” —John Quinn, MusicWeb International