Best of Norrington

[visualnickmos]

I've recently acquired Berlioz's Symphonie Fantastique, with Sir Roger Norrington, and the London Classical Players (still exist?) and I must say, I'm very taken with this recording. Very pleased indeed.

It led me to wonder what other notable recordings he has made, or indeed, other recordings of his that a any of you find particularly rewarding. He's not a conductor I know very much about, but always keen to learn.

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

The recording that has made the greatest impression on me is his recording of the Bruckner Sixth Symphony with the Stuttgart RSO (notwithstanding the naff cover!):

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Symphony-No-Norrington-Anton-Bruckner/dp/B001CH3BRO

And there's also a very fine (and inexpensive) pair of discs devoted to Schubert Symphonies which I like:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Schubert-Symphonies-London-Classical-Players/dp/B00008Y178

... the "Unfinished" was chosen on a BaL a year or so ago - more urgent and swifter than "traditional" interpretations (Rob Cowan didn't like it when he played it on Essential Classics the following Monday).

[Richard Barrett]

I'm not much of a Norrington fan really, but his Mahler symphonies from Stuttgart are well worth hearing. I didn't know he'd released Bruckner 6 - I shall get hold of that as soon as possible & if I get it as a download I won't have to see the cover. Those are HIP with modern instruments of course. His Beethoven Symphonies are very highly thought of but I'm a bit off those pieces at the moment and haven't listened for some time.

[Petrushka]

Those early recordings on EMI with the LCP were ear-openers in their day, particularly the Beethoven cycle, but I've not heard them now for around 25 years as my interest in them rapidly faded. Ditto the Berlioz, I'm afraid, also a Wagner disc. I should probably remove them off the shelves to make way for others clamouring for inclusion.

RN divides opinion on this Forum and I wasn't prepared to accept his Mahler 9 (I know Bryn is a big fan of this) and, in a unique first, got rid of a CD not duplicated elsewhere and a newish issue at that.

[Beef Oven!]

Those early recordings on EMI with the LCP were ear-openers in their day, particularly the Beethoven cycle, but I've not heard them now for around 25 years as my interest in them rapidly faded. Ditto the Berlioz, I'm afraid, also a Wagner disc. I should probably remove them off the shelves to make way for others clamouring for inclusion.

RN divides opinion on this Forum and I wasn't prepared to accept his Mahler 9 (I know Bryn is a big fan of this) and, in a unique first, got rid of a CD not duplicated elsewhere and a newish issue at that.

That's interesting - I have played all those Norrington discs in the last couple of months (LvB 4, LCP yesterday on my flight!).

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

I'm not much of a Norrington fan really, but his Mahler symphonies from Stuttgart are well worth hearing. I didn't know he'd released Bruckner 6 - I shall get hold of that as soon as possible & if I get it as a download I won't have to see the cover. Those are HIP with modern instruments of course.

Er, no. . .

Norrington's wild claims are not HIPP at all. It's just the way he likes things to be played. His HIPP-hype is a mixture of wishful thinking and fantasy. But we've been here before.

[Bryn]

Er, no. . .

Norrington's wild claims are not HIPP at all. It's just the way he likes things to be played. His HIPP-hype is a mixture of wishful thinking and fantasy. But we've been here before.

Yes, and you have previously put forward your opinion as if it were a statement of fact, too. It is just your opinion, and not, in my opinion, one worth giving much consideration to. RN's research into historical performance practice has not delivered results you concur with. Learn to live with it.

[Dave2002]

I think some of RN's recorded performances are extreme and to be avoided - though I can't recall exactly which were a problem for me. Probably Mozart 41, which may have been ludicrously fast. However I found some aspects of the earlier LCP Beethoven cycle really revelatory. One in particular was the slow movement of Beethoven 7, which moves along fairly rapidly. I thought that was a very refreshing change from the reverential and slow approach which has often been adopted by other conductors. There were other interesting touches in that cycle.

I haven't fully followed his more recent work, though I found his ideas of performing Mahler with very little vibrato of interest. I know that some don't like that, but it may be a valid way to play some of his work. I have heard some of his newer SWR recordings, and I recall that some of them are very enjoyable.

[Bryn]

I think some of RN's recorded performances are extreme and to be avoided - though I can't recall exactly which were a problem for me. Probably Mozart 41, which may have been ludicrously fast. However I found some aspects of the earlier LCP Beethoven cycle really revelatory. One in particular was the slow movement of Beethoven 7, which moves along fairly rapidly. I thought that was a very refreshing change from the reverential and slow approach which has often been adopted by other conductors. There were other interesting touches in that cycle.

I haven't fully followed his more recent work, though I found his ideas of performing Mahler with very little vibrato of interest. I know that some don't like that, but it may be a valid way to play some of his work. I have heard some of his newer SWR recordings, and I recall that some of them are very enjoyable.

I did find his inclusion of Blumine within Mahler's 1st, with its (the symphony's) revised orchestration of the movements Mahler retained from the 'Titan' Symphonic Poem, somewhat bizarre and decidedly anachronistic, but at least he suggested that those who disagreed with his decision to included the movement might choose to skip it.

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

Yes, and you have previously put forward your opinion as if it were a statement of fact, too. It is just your opinion, and not, in my opinion, one worth giving much consideration to. RN's research into historical performance practice has not delivered results you concur with. Learn to live with it.

RN's research doesn't appear to be evidence based. My research into Elgar performance practice is based on recordings made just 6 years after the premiere of the first symphony.

RN even had the Vienna Philharmonic eating out of his hand for a brief period. Then they backtracked. Not really sure who is telling porkies there. . .

[Bryn]

RN's research doesn't appear to be evidence based. My research into Elgar performance practice is based on recordings made just 6 years after the premiere of the first symphony.

Acoustic recordings made under conditions widely at variance with normal orchestral performance conditions. What sort of 'evidence' is that? Do tell, does the use of vibrato tend to help the projection of sound from string instruments? Might it not have been employed precisely to achieve a strong enough excitation of the sound transducers in use at the time? Not even close to reliable evidence of standard orchestral playing techniques prevalent at that time, or indeed 6 years previously.

[Barbirollians]

I think that Berlioz is one of RN's best records . I did not like the Mahler 9 but enjoyed the Bruckner
6

[jayne lee wilson]

Often overlooked, his late SWR Intégrale of the Haydn London Symphonies is superb in every respect, and the SQ is simply exceptional for transparency, dynamics and tonal splendour. Beauty, vivacity and sheer joie de vivre leap from every page. One of the best things he ever did, recorded live and very alive indeed, as is this Salzburg concert -

https://www.amazon.fr/Symphonie-Jupiter-Divertimento-Danses-Concertantes/dp/B00005NQT3/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1465529608&sr=8-1&keywords=norrington+orfeo

http://www.qobuz.com/gb-en/album/haydn-j-the-12-london-symphonies-franz-joseph-haydn/4010276022435

A big fan for a long time, so much to say so little time (I've hardly heard a note of music since Monday) but his seemingly quixotic speeds often have their raison d'etre. His SWR 1873 Bruckner 3 is much faster than anyone else in its first movement, but this has the notable effect of tightening & clarifying the form, (which is more expansive than the 1889 hack-about but simpler too, with a far more assured sense of structural direction), and giving an apt emphasis (and a wonderful purity of expression) to the vital passage just before the recap where Bruckner extends secondary ideas into the Wagner sleep motif, the music almost at a standstill - before the reprise sweeps on. Norrington's swiftness, and unusually flowing, moulded phrasing, ensures the listener grasps the movement's shape and remembers the Wagner ideas - important for their integrated recurrences later...

Heavy with sleep as dawn brightens... bedtime... cat's looking at me with droopy eyes herself...

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

Acoustic recordings made under conditions widely at variance with normal orchestral performance conditions. What sort of 'evidence' is that? Do tell, does the use of vibrato tend to help the projection of sound from string instruments? Might it not have been employed precisely to achieve a strong enough excitation of the sound transducers in use at the time?

Now there's a new one- not even mentioned in the detailed correspondence in Moore's "Elgar on Record", but certainly possible. Has even RN thought of this one? It could even go down with the myth that Elgar got the orchestra to play faster in order to get more on to a 78 side - debunked by Menuhin and quietly forgotten.

Not even close to reliable evidence of standard orchestral playing techniques prevalent at that time, or indeed 6 years previously.

Keep digging if you like. Far better to say you like the way RN interprets the music, rather than to attempt to rewrite history despite real evidence.

[MickyD]

I am very fond of Norrington's discs of Rossini Overtures and Romantic Overtures with the London Classical Players - I particularly like the Berlioz 'Les Francs Juges' overture.