Best of Norrington

[MickyD]

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

Not forgetting Les Siècles and François-Xavier Roth:

[seabright]

Ouch! Dire audio quality but quite a performance.

How strange that you find the audio quality "dire" ... In addition to their praise for the performance, it is that which You Tube viewers have also singled out for comment: "The recording is superb"; "The audio quality is excellent ... one can hear individual instruments/sections way better than other recordings, ideal for study purposes"; "A very fine recording." I agree with those comments too: over my extension speakers it sounds anything but "dire"! ... Still, its the orchestral playing that makes this a first-class performance, so it's a pity the San Francisco band didn't record it commercially.

[Bryn]

Problem is, I used Total Recorder to capture the audio, then burned to a CD-R to listen to via my standard system. The congestion and dynamic compression was of Classic FM level. Listening direct from You Tube via a USB DAC (Dacmagic XS) to headphones, the sound is a little more acceptable, but the congestion and compression is still pretty blatant. It sounds rather as if the recording used for the YouTube upload may have been made via an automatic gain circuit.

[Dave2002]

Today this/these were brought to my attention - https://www.jpc.de/jpcng/classic/det...n/hnum/1010985

The Seasons, the Creation and some CPE Bach at the same site.

[makropulos]

If I had to name one, it would be the Hänssler set of the Haydn London Symphonies. Wonderfully fresh and invigorating playing, with really marvellous "Drum Roll" symphony. I'm not generally enthusiastic about RN but that Haydn set is quite exceptional in my view.

[gurnemanz]

His Pastoral was a real earopener when I first heard it.

[Bryn]

His Pastoral was a real earopener when I first heard it.

RVW, LvB/LCP or LvB/SRSO?

[jayne lee wilson]

If I had to name one, it would be the Hänssler set of the Haydn London Symphonies. Wonderfully fresh and invigorating playing, with really marvellous "Drum Roll" symphony. I'm not generally enthusiastic about RN but that Haydn set is quite exceptional in my view.

Absolutely! Glad to find another enthusiast, see....#13 above....
And don't forget the Schubert ...#16...!

[gurnemanz]

RVW, LvB/LCP or LvB/SRSO?

Sorry about vague statement - Lvb/LCP

[cloughie]

P

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

Maybe charm is the wrong term - I just love the raw sound that Decca recorded with the PCO in the late fifties/early sixties and a contrast to the smoother sound in London and Vienna. That sound seemed to be lost forever when the stardard internal sounding Orchestre de Paris appeared on the scene. The Les Siecles SF looks interesting and I'll have another listen to both of the Norrington recordings.

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

Maybe charm is the wrong term - I just love the raw sound that Decca recorded with the PCO in the late fifties/early sixties and a contrast to the smoother sound in London and Vienna. That sound seemed to be lost forever when the stardard internal sounding Orchestre de Paris appeared on the scene.

One of the very first LPs I bought (Dec 1972, IIRC) was the PCO Nutcracker "Suites 1 & 2" on DECCA, conducted by Fistoulari (recorded in 1952). I was utterly appalled to hear the feeble string sound and generally "nasal" tone of the orchestral sound - it would be interesting to see how I'd respond to it nowadays (not least because many of DECCA's Mono recordings were subjected to artificial stereo remasterings, so I probably wasn't hearing the sound that the orchestra actually made when recording).

Certainly Martinon is a conductor I much admire, so I shall try and find his SF

[makropulos]

Absolutely! Glad to find another enthusiast, see....#13 above....
And don't forget the Schubert ...#16...!

Thanks for the recommendation of the Schubert - that I must try!

[EdgeleyRob]

I really should read those Bruckner edition threads.
Listening to the 4th symphony from the Norrington Romantics box earlier I was tacken aback when the scherzo wasn't the 'hunting' one.

[jayne lee wilson]

I really should read those Bruckner edition threads.
Listening to the 4th symphony from the Norrington Romantics box earlier I was tacken aback when the scherzo wasn't the 'hunting' one.

I bet you were!

Amazing isn't it? Very daring & original piece, and Norrington's SWR recording of 4/1874 and 3/1873 are some of the best things he's ever done. He really makes them work on their own sweepingly lyrical and dramatic terms, with his SWR-characteristic legato phrasing and far-sighted, architecturally-graded climaxes. The finale of 4/1874 makes sense in a way I've never quite heard in other recordings, even as fine as Young and Rozhdestvensky are...

Shame Blomstedt hasn't done the original 4th... but there's still time...!

[EdgeleyRob]

I bet you were!

Amazing isn't it? Very daring & original piece, and Norrington's SWR recording of 4/1874 and 3/1873 are some of the best things he's ever done. He really makes them work on their own sweepingly lyrical and dramatic terms, with his SWR-characteristic legato phrasing and far-sighted, architecturally-graded climaxes. The finale of 4/1874 makes sense in a way I've never quite heard in other recordings, even as fine as Young and Rozhdestvensky are...

Shame Blomstedt hasn't done the original 4th... but there's still time...!

Thanks Jayne.
Bruckner is not really my thing but yes I did enjoy this.