Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, conductor Manfred Honeck - Music Box, July 29th, 2024
I give up a traditional album review for the latest release from the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Manfred Honeck, which was released on July 19th.

I will share my subjective impressions about this album, related to a life experience: I listened to the album on a Sunday, July 21st, in the car, on the trip from Râșnov to Bucharest. I listened to the first twomovements of Bruckner's Symphony No. 7, almost 45 minutes, the 3 kilometers before the intersection in Predeal, and the rest, until Azuga.

There was just enough time for me to focus solely on the music playing through the headphones, to look at the forest and the sky, to feel the wind. And to realize that Bruckner's music speaks about the majesty of the tall fir trees, about the blue sky, the miracle of life. I also had in mind the most recent book I had read by philosopher Roger Scruton, "An Intelligent Person's Guide to Modern Culture",where hebeautifully discusses the role of high culture and the dangers we face in its absence, with classical music occupying a place of honor within it.

Yes, in this kind of music, there is something that speaks to us from beyond-beyond us, time, space, and the material world. As long as the music is understood and performed to the highest standards, a condition fulfilled to perfection on this album.

This music teaches us the lesson of patience, sacrifice, and high aspiration. No, it is not at all irrelevant what music we listen to, because not all music illustrates the transcendent within us, without which we feel empty and alone, even if sometimes we don't even realize it.

Perhaps not everyone will choose to listen to Bruckner's Symphony No. 7 in a traffic jam. But maybe there will be a few who, when they feel overwhelmed, will remember that they might find a cure in Bruckner's music. I couldn'ttell you exactly what Bruckner's musicis actually about, but I know for certain that it speaks to me about the fragility and beauty of human life. And that is enough.

There is a masterful interpretation of this symphony, perhaps the most emotional I have ever heard, recorded during three live concerts in March 2022. Just as is the final piece on the album, Resurrexit by Mason Bates.Clearly, the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra has great admiration for Manfred Honeck, the Austrian who has held the position of music director since 2008, with a contract that was last extended until 2028. So, the ensemble chose to give Manfred Honeck a gift for his 60th birthday by commissioning a musical piece. This is Resurrexit by Mason Bates, composed in 2018 and premiered in March 2022.

Manfred Honeck is a practicing Catholic, and I believe the musicians in his orchestra took this into consideration when they commissioned the piece from Mason Bates.Resurrexit-The Resurrection-captures echoes of the early Christian Eastern church music from the first centuries of Christianity. There are echoes of Byzantine rituals, with the sound of the wooden clapper, as well as a cinematicprogression thatleads us from darkness to light.A defining work for Mason Bates, the 48-year-old American composer, who is currently the most performed American composer of our days.