Three Fanfare Magazine critics have Manfred Honeck and the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra’s recordings on their 2016 year-end “Want Lists”:
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Beethoven: Symphonies Nos. 5 & 7
“Manfred Honeck’s Beethoven… helps you to recapture the shock of the new. There is nothing gimmicky or freakish about it, but I wasn’t 10 seconds into this SACD before I sat up and took notice. The booklet contains Honeck’s almost blow-by-blow description of both symphonies, and it is an opportunity for him to explain the small but often striking ways in which he has departed from tradition—not to be unfaithful to Beethoven, but, if possible, to be more faithful to Beethoven’s intentions.… Even if you have a ton of Beethoven Fives and Sevens, this will not feel like a duplication!” —Raymond Tuttle
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Tchaikovsky: Symphony No. 6 & Dvořák: Rusalka Fantasy
“Manfred Honeck’s reading of Tchaikovsky’s Sixth Symphony with the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra sent shivers down my spine—and it’s accompanied by Honeck’s own 20-minute fantasy on material from Dvořák’s opera Rusalka, which is wholly delightful.” —Martin Anderson
“As he has done so often in the past, Manfred Honeck conducts a revelatory, fresh, and insightful interpretation of a work so familiar as to be too often taken for granted; this time, Tchaikovsky’s “Pathétique.” Honeck’s own fantasy from Dvořák’s opera Rusalka is a delicious bonus. The Pittsburgh Symphony once again proves that it can go toe-to-toe with any orchestra in the world.” —Merlin Patterson