The Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra used to be a major fixture on the American recording scene, but has not been heard from much in the early 21st century. Two events have come together to change that: the rise of the in-house symphony orchestra label and the arrival of Pittsburgh's hot new Austrian conductor, Manfred Honeck. This release shows what the fuss is about. If you were wondering why you had never heard of the Rusalka Fantasy of Antonín Dvorák, that's because it hadn't existed prior to Honeck, who made an orchestral ...
Read More
The Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra used to be a major fixture on the American recording scene, but has not been heard from much in the early 21st century. Two events have come together to change that: the rise of the in-house symphony orchestra label and the arrival of Pittsburgh's hot new Austrian conductor, Manfred Honeck. This release shows what the fuss is about. If you were wondering why you had never heard of the Rusalka Fantasy of Antonín Dvorák, that's because it hadn't existed prior to Honeck, who made an orchestral arrangement of music from the opera and commissioned this abridgement of it. The work brings together some wonderful Dvorák melodies that are little known in most places. The main attraction is the Tchaikovsky Symphony No. 6 in B minor, Op. 74 ("Pathétique"), which here receives one of its strongest performances in years. The opening movement is extraordinary -- restless, yet sculpted down to the smallest details -- and throughout, the symphony has a sense of suppressed passion that...
Read Less
