Manfred Honeck’s one of the finest and most exciting Beethoven conductors around, but his interpretive decisions result in an account of the Ninth’s climactic sequence that comes over as episodic and mannered.
Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra
Classical CD Reviews: François-Xavier Roth conducts Mussorgsky and Ravel, Manfred Honeck conducts Tchaikovsky and Leshnoff, and Mikolajus Čiurlionis Orchestral Works
François-Xavier Roth and his period ensemble Les Siècles serve up freshness of playing and conviction of interpretation; Manfred Honeck is a conductor who can draw compelling, electrifying accounts of the standard canon as if on cue; the verdict’s mixed on the music of Lithuanian-born composer Mikalojus Čiurlionis.
Classical Album Review: Manfred Honeck conducts Beethoven’s Symphonies nos. 5 and 7
This is truly exciting, world-beating Beethoven, played with gusto and a kind of musical intelligence that you simply can’t take for granted.