Dvorák's Symphony No. 8 in G major, Op. 88 (not E minor as it says on the packaging), is one of the great listener favorites in the entire canon of Romantic symphonies, and it would seem difficult to add much to what previous musicians have found in it. The venerable Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra and its Austrian conductor, Manfred Honeck, manage to do so on two counts in this live recording. The first set of innovations lies in Honeck's interpretation of the symphony, which is broad and gloriously noisy in the outer ...
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Dvorák's Symphony No. 8 in G major, Op. 88 (not E minor as it says on the packaging), is one of the great listener favorites in the entire canon of Romantic symphonies, and it would seem difficult to add much to what previous musicians have found in it. The venerable Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra and its Austrian conductor, Manfred Honeck, manage to do so on two counts in this live recording. The first set of innovations lies in Honeck's interpretation of the symphony, which is broad and gloriously noisy in the outer movements, and given to a sentimental sheen in the slow movement and Allegretto grazioso. You might love the finale or you might find its variations in tempo and its pounding timpani strokes a bit over the top, but there is no doubting the energy Honeck brings to the work, nor the careful way the powerhouse finale is set up (Honeck takes it as the work's center in a way that other conductors do not), nor the performance of the symphony's brass section. The second major innovation is the...
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![Dvorak / Janacek: Symphonies [Manfred Honeck] [Reference Recordings: Fr-710]](https://www4.alibris-static.com/cover/n90283xz5lp_t.jpg)
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