Audition - Bruckner: Symphony No. 7 - Honeck

Manfred Honeck is a product of the august Austro-German tradition and you’d think he has all the credentials as a string player, conductor, orchestral trainer and recording artist to bring this off well. He’s written a lengthy and detailed note for the CD worth reading after hearing the work.

Equally the Pittsburgh Orchestra is a fine band, long tradition and familiar with the process of recording, a broadly Austro German sound.

I’ve little knowledge of the pedigree of the recording company but I have listened to this disc more than once. B7 (Ed: Nowak 1883) is a familiar work that has been successfully recorded for many years. The competition is formidable.

There is little or no disagreement on how it goes. The editions are clear cut.

So why do I think is this recording sub par?

1. I think the recording is patchy especially the brass are too close and the strings ill-defined

2. Some odd details niggle me - the flutes tendency to unmarked diminuendo every phrase. The strings are too sticky/only at the end of phrases especially.

3. It has none of the flow of superior versions, it seems dynamics are more important than lyricism and so it sounds chunky

4. The Heinz Hall acoustic is virtually impossible to detect.

I allow for conductorial latitude but it’s almost as though this reading wants to stick out as “not the norm” and yet there’s not much new here. How it’s got such plaudits I don’t know.

Don’t let this be your only B7.