Best of Norrington

[jayne lee wilson]

Shame this has wound up so fast... but I need to mention his later SWR Schubert recordings, especially 4 & 6. I too love that aforementioned LCP/Virgin release of 4-8 (really lovely 5th); but all his later SWR Schubert are very enjoyable, beautifully recorded as ever from that source, and the later readings add that gutty German Radio-Orchestra warmth and depth to the already well-developed Norrington wit and wisdom; the slightly slower tempi often opens out their expressiveness too. This works especially well in 4 and 6, so their very sound draws you back for another listen, tonally very pleasurable indeed...

http://www.qobuz.com/gb-en/album/schubert-symphonies-4-5-radio-sinfonieorchester-stuttgart-des-swr-sir-roger-norrington/4010276025146

http://www.eclassical.com/schubert-symphonies-nos-6-8.html

The SWR Brahms set reviewed well, but I wasn't ready for more Brahms cycles when they came out - did anyone ever hear those?

[gurnemanz]

I'll chip on with Beethoven/LCP 1 & 6 and 2 & 8 as mentioned. I also like two piano concerto CDs with Melvyn Tan: Mozart 23 & 20, Beethoven 3 & 4

[EdgeleyRob]

The Vaughan Williams he did record with the LPO got mixed reviews.
Well played,note perfect but strangely uninvolving or unmoving to my ears.

[teamsaint]

I'm working through the 10 CD Romantics box at the moment, and the recording I have enjoyed most so far ,of a mixed but interesting bunch, is the Tchaik 6.
Only one listen so far, in the car, so need another listen later , but interested in other peoples thoughts on this.

[richardfinegold]

I'm working through the 10 CD Romantics box at the moment, and the recording I have enjoyed most so far ,of a mixed but interesting bunch, is the Tchaik 6.
Only one listen so far, in the car, so need another listen later , but interested in other peoples thoughts on this.

A friend of mine that plays in the NYP and other famous New York ensembles said that when (S)Norrington guested with them he held a stopwatch and constantly looked at it. His only concern seemed to be that certain phrases get dispatched within whatever brief interval Sir Roger decided they were allowed.
I hated that Symphonie Fantastique.

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

Generally it seems to be more about him than the composer, despite all the protestations about sticking to the score.

[Stanfordian]

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.

There is no "Best of Roger Norrington" in my view. He's not a conductor that I find at all inspiring and dispite several attempts he no longer figures on my radar.

[Barbirollians]

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.

One of his best records I think .

[seabright]

The Vaughan Williams he did record with the LPO got mixed reviews.
Well played,note perfect but strangely uninvolving or unmoving to my ears.

Interesting that you should say that, because a 1997 broadcast with Norrington and the San Francisco Symphony on You Tube has elicited such comments under the video as: "The best recording of the symphony I have heard bar none"; "Superb"; "A truly great performance"; "This is arguably the best recording I've heard of this iconic work"; "This is outstanding - never suspected Norrington had it in him" ... and many more such comments as these. I haven't heard the LPO recording so I can't compare but I don't recall any rave reviews for that. Since the LPO had already recorded it with Boult (twice), Handley and Haitink, I imagine they didn't relish yet another outing with Norrington. The San Francisco Orchestra on the other hand can't have performed it all that often, if at all, so their sensational playing suggests the discovery of a great work that was quite new to them. If that's the case then their exhilarating performance could well provide the reason for all the laudatory comments. One textual point: the score asks for a "muffled" Side Drum in the second movement. Norrington opts instead for an unmuffled Snare Drum, making it all sound far more militaristic. I wonder what he did with the LPO? ...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M11YIgtbTHM

[Bryn]

The Romantics set has one of my Norrington bugbears in it, namely his inclusion of the Blumine movement from Mahler's Symphonic Poem Titan among the four movements from the work he re-orchestrated to form his 1st Symphony (he also discarded the name Titan when recomposing those 4 movements for the symphony). Blumine has its place, within the earlier orchestrations of Titan (the symphonic poem) or its original rôle as part of the incidental music for von Scheffel's Der Trompeter von Säckingen, but not in the 1st Symphony, where its sparser orchestration stands out from the that of the four movements Mahler carried forward into the symphony in their new re-orchestrated form. Otherwise, I reckon all the discs in that set are very fine, and if one programs out Blumine (as Norrington suggests one might) the Mahler 1 is excellent, too. It's ironic that of the Mahler he recorded, only the 2nd Symphony was issued in SACD format. For me it is his least successful Mahler recording, though mainly due to relatively weak soloists. As to the LCP Symphonie Fantastique, I got it at the time of its release and it remained my 'go to' until I heard the JEG, and later the Immerseel, which, in their different ways, vie with the two Norrington for my favours.

[Bryn]

Interesting that you should say that, because a 1997 broadcast with Norrington and the San Francisco Symphony on You Tube has elicited such comments under the video as: "The best recording of the symphony I have heard bar none"; "Superb"; "A truly great performance"; "This is arguably the best recording I've heard of this iconic work"; "This is outstanding - never suspected Norrington had it in him" ... and many more such comments as these. I haven't heard the LPO recording so I can't compare but I don't recall any rave reviews for that. Since the LPO had already recorded it with Boult (twice), Handley and Haitink, I imagine they didn't relish yet another outing with Norrington. The San Francisco Orchestra on the other hand can't have performed it all that often, if at all, so their sensational playing suggests the discovery of a great work that was quite new to them. If that's the case then their exhilarating performance could well provide the reason for all the laudatory comments. One textual point: the score asks for a "muffled" Side Drum in the second movement. Norrington opts instead for an unmuffled Snare Drum, making it all sound far more militaristic. I wonder what he did with the LPO? ...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M11YIgtbTHM

Thanks for that link. I will activate it after tonight's Rattle.

[Beef Oven!]

And I think it was you Bryn who put me onto Norrington's Bruckner 6.

[Bryn]

Ouch! Dire audio quality but quite a performance.

[cloughie]

As to the LCP Symphonie Fantastique, I got it at the time of its release and it remained my 'go to' until I heard the JEG, and later the Immerseel, which, in their different ways, vie with the two Norrington for my favours.

But all lack the gallic charm of PCO/Argenta or FNRO/Martinon!

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

But all lack the gallic charm of PCO/Argenta or FNRO/Martinon!

I don't think I want "charm" in this work, though, cloughie - more, "Grand Guignol avant la lettre".

The LCP Symphonie Fantastique and (even more so) the Stuttgart Bruckner 6 show Norrington at his very best IMO (and I'm very fond of the LCP Haydn 99 - 104). He's completely wrong, of course, about his justification of the tempo for the Marche au supplice, though - any Timpanist can play the opening rhythm at a swifter tempo with one hand tied behind their back (or, preferably, holding a glass of good cognac). An unnecessary "justification", too, when the results he gets are so convincing/satisfying in their own terms in context.