MusicWeb International‘s Nick Barnard has a new rave review for Manfred Honeck and the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra’s Beethoven: Symphony No. 3; Strauss: Horn Concerto No. 1 recording:
“Regardless of the repertoire he records, I look forward to new discs from Manfred Honeck as being deeply considered, as insightful as they are intelligent and above all stimulating. And in his regular collaborators, the audibly inspired Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra and the superb engineering and production team of Soundmirror, he has the ideal partners. … Part of the particular delight of this series are the extended and articulate notes provided by Honeck. Often I would suggest an ‘innocent ear’ is preferable. For these discs I find that Honeck’s notes act as very useful pre-ambles and explanations of his artistic approach and goals – all of which he triumphantly achieves.… This is swift, muscular Beethoven; dynamic, unsentimental with the dynamics strongly marked and distinctly terraced. Accents and sforzandi – of which there are a lot in this work – are hit home with a near unrelenting power; expressive when it wants to be, but with a certain dry-eyed unsentimentality. … The Symphony is paired with the youthful Horn Concerto No.1 by Richard Strauss. This is simply superb music-making. Honeck does not have any over-riding ideas here to promote just good old-fashioned excellence. The soloist is the orchestra’s principal hornist the previously mentioned William Caballero. Caballero clearly comes from the rich tradition of American horn playing. His dynamic and expressive range is quite phenomenal from the most caressingly lyrical to hugely powerful and thrillingly athletic. … this work is a staple of every horn audition in the world. But Caballero and Honeck make so much more of this work than it being just a technical test piece; this is a musically sensitive and insightful performance aided by sovereign technical address. … I find this playing absolutely thrilling and convincing. … I love the sense that this is music making which is on the edge rather than playing for any kind of tasteful safety; this is a young man’s music and that is how it sounds here. … All in all, another triumph for this magnificent musical, creative and technical team.”
Read the full review on MusicWeb International