Best of Norrington

[pastoralguy]

Just finished listening to Norrington's Brahms 1. (Oxfam. 99p!)

Very interesting performance with lots of details revealed although, tbh, I don't think one could compare him to any of the truly GREAT Brahms conductors. Fine orchestral playing though.

[cloughie]

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.

Just had a listen to it too - LSO Kertesz LXT6228 ( yes not even the Stereo) blew my socks off 50 years ago - I want full blown, not a chamber version.

[cloughie]

Just finished listening to Norrington's Brahms 1. (Oxfam. 99p!)

Very interesting performance with lots of details revealed although, tbh, I don't think one could compare him to any of the truly GREAT Brahms conductors. Fine orchestral playing though.

BPO Kempe does it for me! Or the Philharmonia Toscanini from 1952!

[jayne lee wilson]

Just had a listen to it too - LSO Kertesz LXT6228 ( yes not even the Stereo) blew my socks off 50 years ago - I want full blown, not a chamber version.

But the Kertesz is the 1878/80 Haas edition, the familiar revision; the Norrington the very different 1874 Nowak original - and certainly not sounding anything like a chamber version, it's very powerful and dramatic indeed on the glorious and much-lamented SWR Stuttgart SO... !

[cloughie]

But the Kertesz is the 1878/80 Haas edition, the familiar revision; the Norrington the very different 1874 Nowak original - and certainly not sounding anything like a chamber version, it's very powerful and dramatic indeed on the glorious and much-lamented SWR Stuttgart SO... !

I know Jayne, but a bit like the 1841 Schumann 4 it is to my ears, having heard the later version, incomplete. We have different views, and had the Norrington been the one I heard first, then maybe I would think differently. I'm not inflexible and I do like to hear different versions and interpretations.

[jayne lee wilson]

I know Jayne, but a bit like the 1841 Schumann 4 it is to my ears, having heard the later version, incomplete. We have different views, and had the Norrington been the one I heard first, then maybe I would think differently. I'm not inflexible and I do like to hear different versions and interpretations.

How happy could I be with either,
Were t'other dear charmer away...!

[Bryn]

I would have thrown in RN's recordings of the Haydn Cello Concertos with Steven Isserlis, but for the fact that SI has recently re-recorded them under his own direction, and from the snippet spun on (in)Essential Classics yesterday, he has gone on to do somewhat better without RN. There again, the previous recording was made some 21 years ago, so I will give it the thumbs up after all (the C major spinning here now).

[Rolmill]

I would have thrown in RN's recordings of the Haydn Cello Concertos with Steven Isserlis, but for the fact that SI has recently re-recorded them under his own direction, and from the snippet spun on (in)Essential Classics yesterday, he has gone on to do somewhat better without RN. There again, the previous recording was made some 21 years ago, so I will give it the thumbs up after all (the C major spinning here now).

it's the Sinfonia Concertante on that disc that I find myself turning to, a lovely performance.

I have mixed feelings about RN. I have his LCP Beethoven set and like it a lot (especially the even numbered symphonies), but was hugely disappointed by the only concert of his that I have attended: the 2008 prom performance of Elgar 1 with the SWR.

On the strength of recommendations here, though, I recently bought the SWR Bruckner 6 and found it to be fascinating - exciting and thought-provoking, really well-played.