Antonín Dvořák; Leoš Janáček - Symphony No. 8; Jenůfa Suite (Manfred Honeck)

Information

Composer: Antonín Dvořák; Leoš Janáček

• Dvořák - Symphony No. 8 in E minor, Op. 88
• Janáček - Symphonic Suite from Jenůfa

Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra

Manfred Honeck, conductor

Date: 2014

Label: Reference Recordings

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Review

Manfred Honeck’s handling of the Eighth Symphony’s opening phrases is rapturously beautiful, the cellos truly espressivo, the initial bird-like entry of the flute played, as Honeck himself anticipates in his own booklet-note, ‘quite flexibly’. When the lusty string theme arrives at 1'23", Honeck encourages his cellos to play out so that the theme’s five note ‘tail’, which is soon repeated, is given musically valid prominence. The main body of the movement has at its centre hammering chords, beyond which Honeck cues a dramatic rallentando. The coda too is extremely malleable: listen from 9'05", to the sudden speeding, the prominent horns, then the way the brakes slam down before the music scampers off again in top gear.

The Adagio is similarly rich in drama: take the alternation of legato woodwinds and fierce strings near the beginning, or (from 7'10"), the deathly transition where, beyond the clarinets’ exit, a mere wisp of string tone cues ominous horns and fearful tremolandos. The outer sections of the Allegretto grazioso are brisk, tripping and graced with subtle portamentos that sound entirely natural (unlike the glutinous slides favoured by some of Honeck’s less tasteful rivals). Of particular note is the relatively relaxed Trio, and the lively coda with its cheeky quick glissando. The finale alternates tender poetry with wild dance rhythms, those trilling horns that so often cower behind the rest of the orchestra brought boldly to the fore, the symphony’s closing moments deliriously exciting.

The Symphonic Suite from Janáček’s Jenůfa, ‘conceptualised by Honeck, realised by Tomáš Ille’, approximately follows the drift of the opera’s plot, incorporating along the way wildly extrovert dance music, meditative episodes of rare beauty (cue from 3'48"), a storm and a conciliatory ending. Again Honeck’s interpretation is rich in imagination and the playing of the Pittsburgh Symphony scales the heights. Having recently lost Claudio Abbado and Lorin Maazel, and with all due respect to a whole host of fine conductors currently performing, I would say that Manfred Honeck is one of the few remaining masters of the rostrum whose CDs – and there are all too few of them – are events to cherish.

— Rob Cowan

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Antonín Dvořák (September 8, 1841 – May 1, 1904) was a Czech composer. He was the second Czech composer to achieve worldwide recognition, after Bedřich Smetana. Following Smetana's nationalist example, many of Dvořák's works show the influence of Czech folk music, such as his  two sets of Slavonic Dances, the Symphonic Variations, and the overwhelming majority of his songs. Dvořák wrote in a variety of forms: nine symphonies, ten operas, three concertos, several symphonic poems, serenades for string orchestra and wind ensemble, more than 40 works of chamber music, and piano music.

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Leoš Janáček (3 July 1854 – 12 August 1928) was a Czech composer, one of the most important exponents of musical nationalism of the 20th century. He studied at the Prague, Leipzig, and Vienna conservatories. His earlier works was influenced by contemporaries such as Dvořák, but later he began to incorporate his studies of national folk music and language to create a highly original synthesis. Janáček's later works, which are his most celebrated, include operas Káťa Kabanová and The Cunning Little Vixen, the Sinfonietta, the Glagolitic Mass, the rhapsody Taras Bulba, two string quartets, and other chamber works.

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Manfred Honeck (born 17 September 1958) is an Austrian conductor. He studied at the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna, played the viola in the Vienna Philharmonic, and later began his conducting career assisting Claudio Abbado. Honeck has led major orchestras and opera houses across Europe and the U.S., and since 2008, he has served as Music Director of the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, earning international acclaim and multiple GRAMMY nominations. He is also known for creating symphonic suites from operas and for championing both classical and contemporary repertoire. 

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