The Latest from the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra

 

Maestro Honeck Accepting the Julio Kelenyi Medal of Honor from the Bruckner Society of America. Credit: Iris Holleran with all Photos.

When I saw that the Pittsburgh Symphony was doing Anton Bruckner’s Symphony No. 8 in C Minor (1890 revised version) I made a special effort to make it to the concert. I had already heard Bruckner’s 3rd, 4th and 6th Symphonies and wanted to fill in my experiential gap with another of his works, one he felt, according to the program notes, to be his greatest composition.

A second inducement to make the concert was the addition of a work on the program by Samy Moussa, a contemporary composer whose Elysium I very much enjoyed when the PSO included it in their program in a January 2025 concert.

Samy Moussa with Maestor Manfred Honeck.

Soussa’s Adgilis Deda, a Hymn for Orchestra commissioned by the PSO, referenced a Georgian deity revered as the protective spirit of the hearth, family, motherhood, healing and fertility, was included in the weekend’s concerts. It was a great beginning to this weekend’s concerts at Heinz Hall.

Prior to the concert, music director and conductor Manfred Honeck received the Medal of Honor from the Bruckner Society of America for his “outstanding contributions to the understanding and performance of Anton Bruckner’s music.” Former awardees included PSO Music Directors Fritz Reiner and William Steinberg.

Before the concert, the symphony announced that the concert was being recorded and, true to form, the erudite PSO audience held their applause until the very end of the performance. They also suppressed their coughs and fidgeting to the interludes between Bruckner’s four movements.

The audience was respectfully silent throughout the recording intervals but let loose with a barrage of suppressed coughing at the end of each movement as well as a standing ovation at the conclusion of the Bruckner..

The Grammy Award.

In the lobby, concert-goers gazed at the displayed Grammy Award presented to the PSO for Best Orchestral Performance for its 2017 concert featuring Dmitri Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 5 and Samuel Barber’s Adigio for Strings. The Grammy became a popular focal point for those wanting to get their photo with an honest to goodness Grammy in the foreground, Iris and me included.

Iris with Me Pointing to the Grammy.

I should also mention that after the concert, I saw a musician in the lobby carrying an instrument case on his back. Curious as to what was inside, I asked and found out it was a trombone. When I found out, I praised the brass work in the Bruckner No. 8, but the trombonist went on to admit that he was part of the pre-concert performance in the lobby that featured the Duquesne University Choir, not a member of the PSO. Sorry to have missed that one.

Something to keep you eye on is a future PSO concert of Mahler’s Symphony No. 2 “Resurrection” with the Mendelssohn Choir on March 13, 14 and 15. For tickets, go to https://www.pittsburghsymphony.org/.../list_performances.