“Playing and recording, including dynamic contrasts and rhythmic changes, touch upon extremes: Both are extraordinarily well done, but one cannot escape a feeling of them having been stretched to the maximum. Taking the fifth symphony as an example, one notes that interpretational drive, richly inspired by Beethoven’s inner conflicts, unrelenting fury and continuous struggle to conquer defeat, sweeps up the orchestra to the limits of what it can handle. For any orchestra of lesser quality this would have led to complete chaos. Here, the result is breathtaking. The recording engineers seem to have done their utmost to amplify it all by steering the (spot) mikes and volume in such a way as to lift out and accentuate the various instrumental groups or individual instruments, thus adding much to the thrill and excitement of the performance. … All I can do is urge you to listen and form your own ideas. It certainly is an eye opener which any serious music lover should have on its shelves to wonder about and compare with your favourite one(s). At the end of the day I believe that this recording is a most challenging stimulus to go and listen to the Pittsburg Symphony under its current Musical Director ‘live’, should such an opportunity present itself.” —Adrian Quanjer, HRAudio.net
Labels: Adrian Quanjer, Beethoven, HRAudio.net, Manfred Honeck, Pittsburgh Live, Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra