“Any new disc from this particular team is usually an event, and this one keeps up the trend. It's unusual to find a leading conductor who doesn't seem set on setting down complete cycles of everything. Manfred Honeck's discography is highly selective, and all the better for it.… Honeck's careful handling of Tchaikovsky's dynamic markings pays enormous dividends. Some passages exist on the very edge of audibility and the ffff explosions will rattle your sash windows. … But the excellence of the playing and sound engineering never draws undue attention to itself; what's compelling is the intelligence and musicality of the performance. … Light relief of sorts comes in the form of a single-movement Rusalka Fantasy based on Dvořák’s opera, assembled by Honeck and the Czech composer Tomás Ille. It works beautifully… An outstanding disc, and not just for audiophiles.” —Graham Rickson, The Arts Desk
Labels: Graham Rickson, Manfred Honeck, Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, TchaikovskyDvorak, The ArtsDesk