Re: How would you evaluate Manfred Honeck's first season with the PSO?

Paul Leger — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 03:03:11 GMT

I'm always suspicious of new music directors, especially in today's environment where there is a movement toward homogenized music. The objective seems to be to be as faceless as possible with performance perfection lacking any personal stamp. Andrew Davis seemed like he was going through the motions and making sure he took no risks. Tortellier was really interesting but was the "third guy on the list" in the triumvirate. Janowski is awful, having produced the worst recorded Brahms of all time (no fault of the orchestra). And I'm no fan of Mariss Jansons, even though I'm usually alone in that opinion. To me, he personifies the nameless, faceless performance with technical correctness.

So Honeck arrives and I'm afraid that we may have dropped from the big time to the second tier. Not as famous as Maazel, Previn, Steinberg, Jansons, Davis. Seemed limited in his repertoire. Not a modern music guy. But the players seemed to like him and that is important after the desert they have wandered over the last few years.

What we got is a real treat. Honeck is a real interpreter who has the guts to put his own very unique spin on the music. He makes the warhorses ring new, even to the point of shaking up those looking for olympian relaxation in European orchestral music. He also makes the orchestra sound in new ways. Sections are clear and individual instruments are not hidden in the overall blend. And he has excentricities - am I the only one who thinks he has a fetish for off-stage instruments? He has his own sound, often a less sophisticated sound than the expected slick sound of moderen international orchestras. He can actually make you pay tense attention to your 200th hearing of the Beethoven Seventh. He has all the newness and musical personality of a Bernstein, but he has an ego that will let him work with modern musicians. And he looks like he is having fun.

I was disappointed that he isn't a modern music guy, but I can take that as long as we keep the level of modern music high with guests. Keep Noseda and people like John Adams and David Robertson on our programs. (Although I think I would really like to hear Honeck do Berg and Webern and bigger Schoenberg works, and I am very curious about his Rite of Spring next year.)

Because he gets such a unique sound and interpretation from the orchestra (sort of Leonard Bernstein meets Bruno Walter) I'd really like to hear him in a hall where the acoustics favor what he does. Maybe the Benedum, Carnegie Music Hall, or especially Severence Hall in Cleveland. (Heinz Hall makes players sound like they are inside a cotton ball.)

Thanks, PSO management. We have stumbled on a really unique director who can make this group very individual and very prominent. We are getting really different and original musical experiences. That's great. But I'm so happy to hear real involvement instead of the universal, interchangeable "major" conductors of many of today's leading orchestras. Keep Honeck here for a long time.

Re: How would you evaluate Manfred Honeck's first season with the PSO?

jrcedar7 — Sun, 21 Jun 2009 17:56:19 GMT

How would you evaluate Manfred Honeck's first season with the PSO?

Sharon Eberson — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 14:07:31 GMT

How would you evaluate Manfred Honeck's first season with the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra? Read more on maestro Honeck in the Sunday Magazine.

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