Shostakovich: Symphony No. 5, Op. 47 - Barber: Adagio for Strings, Op. 11 (Live)

With impressive playing from an energised Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, Manfred Honeck directs a powerful and highly dramatic performance of this popular 20th-century symphony. He takes a few liberties with the score, ramping up the intensity by adding accents where many conductors are happy to take the composer’s word for it, but the results are undeniably ear-catching and it’s proved a winning solution. Barber’s heart-easing Adagio makes an unusual but not inappropriate partner, the strings of this great American orchestra singing with real beauty of line.