44 thoughts on “Review: Roger Norrington–The Complete Worthless Dreck Edition”
Roger Norrington sounds like the novel Christopher Isherwood never wrote. Mr. Norrington Changes Trizers. Maybe the brown trizers of irredemable arrogance.
Would I would love to hear is a first rate conductor and orchestra performing on well-maintained school instruments. Likely, after a couple rehearsals, they could deliver a strikingly rich performance.
The message would be crystal clear: Instruments will only take you so far. Hard work, intelligence, and passion for the music you're performing will take you the rest of the way.
I fully agree with you. Roger Norrington is a charlatan. And let me take this a step further. Beyond merely Norrington, HIP in general is not only a bad joke, but an insult to actual music. Whilst that may seem like an extreme opinion and overly harsh, the problem I have with HIP is no one has managed to find actual real proof anywhere that a single period instrument version of anything was created as anything more than a gimmick. A gimmick made by faux musical charlatans to capitalise on, sadly, the increasingly aged and conservative beliefs of some older members of the classical audience. It holds nothing relevant to the modern world at all. This entire disagreement about interpretation appears to affect only music of the baroque, classical and now the romantic eras, but cannot affect modernist music, as modernism seems to be free of this interpretive ambiguity. Boulez was “cold” according to some people, too, but he was extremely genuine and sincere as a conductor. And his recordings of Mahler, Debussy, Ravel, Schoenberg, Stravinsky, and other late romantic, early modernist and impressionist music are more emotional, authentic and real than anything Norrington ever released. Genuinely sincere conductors have two jobs: 1. To respect and give value to the original score; and 2. To make it interesting in as best a manner as possible, without detracting from its original intent. The irony of HIP is, with a few exceptions such as Harnoncourt, most HIP conductors were merely doing what Norrington did and therefore not being “Authentic” at all. Maybe I am old school for saying this, but my favourite Bach interpretations are by Karl Richter and Leopold Stokowski, because they wanted to update the music, rather than turning the clock back to the 18th century – which is what HIP really is, going backward. Of course I’m happy to give anything a try which anyone can recommend, including HIP in theory, but every HIP version of anything I have heard so far sounds bland, fake and tinny to my ears. Thanks for your review Dave.
Back when Norrington was releasing his Beethoven cycle, I remember reading the reviews in Gramophone and feeling gaslit – because I'd actually heard the disc they were reviewing and thought it was pretty awful. I never bought into the Norrington propaganda, and I'm so happy to see there's at least one critic who didn't buy it either. Thank you! I feel validated.
A year or so ago I saw a concert on the YouTube channel of the Royal Scottish National Orchestra with Roger Norrington conducting Beethoven's Eroica. I was at work so missed the concert. What I found most odd was him giving a lengthy introductory speech to the audience about the rationale of his method of conducting Beethoven. It felt like explaining the punchline to a joke before you've even told it.
True story: I once threw up onto Roger Norrington’s kitchen floor. I was part of a jazz group that had played at a church around the corner from his estate (he held his head in his hands all throughout our set) and for some reason invited us to his home afterwards. I wasn’t going to turn down an invitation to drink wine at Roger Norrington’s home, though I wish I’d handled his beverage offerings better. He made some crack like “Oh, how typical of a jazzer!” I did actually engage him a bit on his vibrato nonsense, but I was young enough at the time that it’s not like he was going to take me seriously (and I had just thrown up on his kitchen floor). And this was before YouTube, where you can just find any video of a 1920s or 1930s orchestra and immediately disprove his unimaginably nonsense that those orchestras did not use vibrato. That said, aside from the vibrato insanity (and his obvious distaste for the music I’d played for him) he was an engaging and gracious host!
yeah, the way Warner is doing that with the label names is really weird. If you don't want to ever mention EMI, why not just call them the Warner recordings? Why change it to another one of the pre-existing labels under the Warner umbrella (Erato)? I don't get it.
For all the people coming to defense of poor Sir Roger, just listen to the Wagner disc. See if you can get through the Dutchman overture. It’s supposed to sound like a storm, it’s the musical equivalent of a five pound chihuahua taking a tinkle. The opening to Parsifal doesn’t remotely come close to a depiction of the holy grail, more akin to bunch of sorority girls drinking a bad moscato out of a red solo cup. He’s a complete and total joke. Stop defending him.
I'm not a musician and I don't know the first thing about being a music critic, but I find it interesting that the few critics I have read seem to have a favorite conductor that they love to diss. For Dave it's Norrington. Martin Bookspan could not stomach Karajan except for a few EMI Bruckner recordings. Jim Svejda found Harnoncourt, Richter and most of Chailly unlistenable. Other critics love these conductors, so I guess it's all a matter of taste just as I expected. I'm not sharp enough to determine a mediocre performance from a good one….I just know what I like.
His recordings actually got played a lot on local radio stations. This video felt like a cathartic release of having to hear those horrors over the years. You were like the Oracle of Delphi in this video!
As I have mentioned before, I first came to this channel surprised at the loathing David had for Norrington, since I bought his Beethoven (hook, line, and sinker) in the 1980s and then most of the Schubert cycle. I didn't enjoy, however the Magic Flute nor Ma Vlast, and definitely prefer the fraudulent (Pierne) to the "authentic" (Norrington) when it comes to Symphonie Fantastique. Your talks have really been eye-(and ear)opening. I always enjoyed Trevor Pinnock and Guenter Wand, so I guess there is hope! Thank You! BTW, the second-hand CD shops now have lots of discarded Norrington, and will soon have more!
I think David is completely wasted limiting his insights to classical music. Substitute baseball for Roger Norrington and that sport totally makes sense. 🙂 Seriously, it's so refreshing to hear a commentator who knows what he's talking about. I have zero problems with strong opinions IF they can be supported by FACTS, an understanding of historical or economic or cultural contexts, and a clear analysis of individual motivations and biases. David does all this and more. Bravo. I'm English btw and this talk rings true about British attitudes to the arts in many areas.
I bought the Beethoven piano concerto set because it was “period” – to hear what it was like – many, many moons ago. When I listened to the very fast (5:47) slow movement of the Emperor I thought “This is weird?” and pulled out the Arrau / Davis recording (8:27). It sort of settled my understanding of their approach. There was just no feeling in it. Arrau makes that slow movement like gazing up at the stars while camping. The Tan version is like Bugs Bunny running in the night.
I don't know if there is any personal animosity towards Norrington in peculiar or towards the British music establishment in general, but I don't necessarily agree with this vision.
Rather than the white scarf of irredeemable chutzpah and a multicoloured truckload of other scarfs, to really match the outrageous crimes committed to music by said individual more appropriate would be to wear 'the black cap' followed by the verdict: "you will be taken from here to the place from whence you came and there be kept in close confinement [untill the day of execution] …..".
The name you were searching for was Robert King (of the King's Consort) who contrary to Norrington is a musician – as was Frans Brüggen, and are W. Christie and Minkowski (the latter when he confines himself to music of the baroque era, that is) and there are others with them within the branch of HIP!
I revere Mr Norrington at least for his sartorial sense, bringing soutanes and other priestly garb to the conductor’s podium. Anyone wishing to hear the sales pitch straight from the horse’s orifice might listen to RN’s interview with Sue Lawley on Desert Island Discs (BBC).
A long time ago, I wrote in a facebook group about the recording of Smetana's "Ma vlast", in which some members of the group wrote that Norrigton's approach was more authentic than the others, which is absurd (if we keep in mind that there are recordings of Czech conductors who grew up in the same musical tradition as Smetana ). There was also this comment:
"all you’re doing is demonstrating is that you like the traditions of how this piece is usually played, not necessarily what Smetana actually wrote. What you call "authenticity“ others might call ”tradition“ or, if one were being unkind, ”laziness.“ I’ve conducted some of this music with Czech orchestras, and they want it to go how it usually goes. That’s what you like, that’s what you want, fine. But at least admit what you want is a recording that conforms to the recorded traditions of the work. Norrington went back to all the sources for this recording, and it’s the first (I believe) that represents anything like the notes the composer actually wrote." – poor guy…
Norrington is the only conductor I have ever refused to work with, again after experiencing the worst Missa Solemnis of all time in London in the early nineties. Norrington wanted it (like everything else) fast and light throughout, nio vibrato of course, and merely laughed when I pointed out the clue in the title, a message from Beethoven if ever there was one. A musical gadfly and an utter charlatan in my view.
I feel obliged to say that when I was a young singer I understudied Dorabella in 'Cosi fan tutte' in Joan Cross's Phoenix Opera company. Roger Norrington sang the tenor role. His voice was awful, but the musicality and inwardness and phrasing in the tenor aria was exquisite, meditative and unforgettable. Ever since that time I have looked in vain for similarly beautiful phrasing from better tenors, but Roger Norrington's interpretation still leads the pack.
Norrington is indeed the George Santos of classical music. If we didn’t have this character Santos, I guess we’d have have to invent him. If that isn’t a depressing commentary on the human condition, I don’t know what is. Norrington’s clearly held great talent in the art of self-promotion.
I seriously brought some chips with me as I prepared to listen to this once and for eternity review of your "favorite" conductor. :))) I cannot believe you did not start out with all 4 scarves on, as a good case could be made for each of them. However, adding the scarlet one at the end was a deft touch, which had me lol'ing. ;D You can't pan Warner too hard, they have this on their shelves, so they will try to press a honest buck out of it, while the notoriety of the man on the cover still lives – just like they are doing with any former releases they own. It is on us to partake or not!
What seriously struck me most was how unimaginative the full programming was – even conductors from the 78s era, who left very limited recording legacies and hardly had a lot of choice over what to record, had more varied and adventurous choices, containing at least a couple off-the-beaten path pieces or short bon-bons dear to their heart… While Sir Roger just ploughed through the essential late Classical and Romantic repertoire, in an attempt (it seems) to have further points of comparison by which his perversity… erm, difference… could be measured. That, in turn, makes this collection even more useless than otherwise, as all it contains are works recorded literally thousands of times, better.
All in all, although I have heard a couple of the man's records (the Rossini gala included) before and not come off actively offended by them – just feeling it was all kinda bland and joyless… I must modify your statement of "This is the worst … … … … collection of music you will ever hear" by adding 1 letter: "N-ever". Why try and dig deep for some redeemable stuff – that may not really be there – among the wreck, when there are so many options for our short lifetime?..
I really appreciate your work, but this is a gross exaggeration. I am the last one to doubt in the least that Klemperer was a greater conductor than Norrington. But Norrington has his merrits. I remember his first full Beethoven cycle in Stuttgart, I was in all five concerts. He was not presenting a 9th worth discussing. But the 8th was different, new and – worth listening. Quite a few of the other symphonies as well. What I am more critical about is his aggressive rejection of all contemporary music. Last time I heard him was a few years ago in Berlin with a symphony by Martinu – he seemed to plan a full cycle of all symphonies at the time, in my opinion not a very good idea. He is certainly not one of the great conductors of our time. But he has made a certain possitive impact. Saying he is just a fraud, once again, that`s really too much. No, I will not buy this box, there are more important issues. However, just insulting him for more then half an hour, no, I just do not agree.
Wow, you really don't like Norrington! He may not be the greatest of conductors but I find his engagement with audiences a nice touch at the concerts I have attended. Also, he was embarking on HIP with Beethoven and early romantic repertory from the early days. There is something attractive about being first and as you acknoweldge we were thirsty for new sounds in familiar repertoire. Hearing on familiar repertoire on period instruments is revealing of itself. In terms of Beethoven at least I would disagree that his interpretations lacked interest or validity. In Beethoven, his "thing" was tempi. The LCP recorings publish the metronome markings for each movement. I think slow/sluggish tempi Beethoven is now very rare. That said there is room for opinion in music and life.
Having had the distinct “pleasure” of having to play under Roger Norrington on several occasions I can say with certainty that he was a nasty SoB. What he lacked in the artistic realm he more than made up for in the “lack of human decency” department.
Dave I agree with you that the best place, and that which most assuredly is the best thing for this particular lorington box set is it's a quick burial, the sooner the better. But your box set my possibly make it better, far more effective doorstop to protect one of the doors in your house from swaying back and forth than my brick.
About almost 30 years ago, I have The misfortune with wasting money purchasing some allegedly featured BMG classical music compact disc recording performances. Inadvertently I picked up Norrington's recording of Mozart's Don Giovanni, then a three compact disc set, done alternately in the respective Prague and Vienna versions. The method by which this three compact discs it recording was achieved was arranged so that either Norrington or the recording company which I believe is EMI, chose to do this was to make very long compact disc tracks, some of this exceeding being a half an hour in length; some of which had to be bypassed in the track programming process-listening to One track while bypassing some others in order for one to successfully listen one's way, and with successfully wading one's through each one of these respective recorded, allegedly concert versions. Programming my way through that was a nightmare. Even then I realized at that time, now over 30 years ago, that I had purchased that which was a veritable dog in the manger among the west of otherwise decent Mozart Don Giovanni Opera performances, and that this guy, Roger Norrington, was going nowhere with this sort of music conducting, fast. Back when I first Iistened my way through both the respective Prague and the Vienna versions of Don Giovanni I successfully got through it but once, finding that experience almost being completely unbearable-I haven't even picked up the disk box set ever since, because of the release of far superior performances, in which the quality there became no contest. The Don Giovanni brick, which, incidentally makes a rather decent indoor doorstop, was released at a time back before release of the Phillips' bicentennial commemorative Complete Mozart Edition, back in 1991, which I had both the opportunity as well as the Good Fortune with having acquired it, with that Don Giovanni performance being conducted, now regrettably by the now late Sir Colin Davis, which spared the Don any further embarrassment in hell with such mediocre concert length performances of Don Giovanni coming from the likes of, and being spared any further humiliation or desecration coming from such as the likes of a Norrington.. even John Eliot Gardiner execute serve better Don Giovanni than Norrington. Personally, I really fail to see how I can really say anyting good regarding a Norrington performance I've just about pretty much everything.
The Hanover band, for example, while playing it's way throughout an entire Franz Schubert complete symphonies cycle under the baton of a Roy Goodman…? One would scarcely tell that it was the same Orchestra, ensemble, or whatever the case may be, being directed by an entirely different orchestral conductor.
The feeling I remember having from hearing the few Norrington recordings I listened to during that period is that he made everything he touched sound insignificant in some unsuspected manner, hence the « surprise ». Maybe it was some sort of exploit 😂.
Roger Norrington sounds like the novel Christopher Isherwood never wrote.
Mr. Norrington Changes Trizers.
Maybe the brown trizers of irredemable arrogance.
Would I would love to hear is a first rate conductor and orchestra performing on well-maintained school instruments. Likely, after a couple rehearsals, they could deliver a strikingly rich performance.
The message would be crystal clear: Instruments will only take you so far. Hard work, intelligence, and passion for the music you're performing will take you the rest of the way.
I fully agree with you. Roger Norrington is a charlatan. And let me take this a step further. Beyond merely Norrington, HIP in general is not only a bad joke, but an insult to actual music. Whilst that may seem like an extreme opinion and overly harsh, the problem I have with HIP is no one has managed to find actual real proof anywhere that a single period instrument version of anything was created as anything more than a gimmick. A gimmick made by faux musical charlatans to capitalise on, sadly, the increasingly aged and conservative beliefs of some older members of the classical audience. It holds nothing relevant to the modern world at all. This entire disagreement about interpretation appears to affect only music of the baroque, classical and now the romantic eras, but cannot affect modernist music, as modernism seems to be free of this interpretive ambiguity. Boulez was “cold” according to some people, too, but he was extremely genuine and sincere as a conductor. And his recordings of Mahler, Debussy, Ravel, Schoenberg, Stravinsky, and other late romantic, early modernist and impressionist music are more emotional, authentic and real than anything Norrington ever released. Genuinely sincere conductors have two jobs: 1. To respect and give value to the original score; and 2. To make it interesting in as best a manner as possible, without detracting from its original intent. The irony of HIP is, with a few exceptions such as Harnoncourt, most HIP conductors were merely doing what Norrington did and therefore not being “Authentic” at all. Maybe I am old school for saying this, but my favourite Bach interpretations are by Karl Richter and Leopold Stokowski, because they wanted to update the music, rather than turning the clock back to the 18th century – which is what HIP really is, going backward. Of course I’m happy to give anything a try which anyone can recommend, including HIP in theory, but every HIP version of anything I have heard so far sounds bland, fake and tinny to my ears. Thanks for your review Dave.
Norringtons a one and done. A bore. How about the Dag Wiren symphonies in your program series!!! Would be spectacular!
Robert King was the name you were searching for.
Back when Norrington was releasing his Beethoven cycle, I remember reading the reviews in Gramophone and feeling gaslit – because I'd actually heard the disc they were reviewing and thought it was pretty awful. I never bought into the Norrington propaganda, and I'm so happy to see there's at least one critic who didn't buy it either. Thank you! I feel validated.
Perhaps in retrospect, the remains of EMI would be very happy and relieved to have these misbegotten recordings attributed to Erato. Or Errata.
I know a conductor who heard Norrington's vibrato-less Mahler 1 with some youth orchestra. His verdict: "Child abuse."
A year or so ago I saw a concert on the YouTube channel of the Royal Scottish National Orchestra with Roger Norrington conducting Beethoven's Eroica. I was at work so missed the concert. What I found most odd was him giving a lengthy introductory speech to the audience about the rationale of his method of conducting Beethoven. It felt like explaining the punchline to a joke before you've even told it.
True story: I once threw up onto Roger Norrington’s kitchen floor. I was part of a jazz group that had played at a church around the corner from his estate (he held his head in his hands all throughout our set) and for some reason invited us to his home afterwards. I wasn’t going to turn down an invitation to drink wine at Roger Norrington’s home, though I wish I’d handled his beverage offerings better. He made some crack like “Oh, how typical of a jazzer!”
I did actually engage him a bit on his vibrato nonsense, but I was young enough at the time that it’s not like he was going to take me seriously (and I had just thrown up on his kitchen floor). And this was before YouTube, where you can just find any video of a 1920s or 1930s orchestra and immediately disprove his unimaginably nonsense that those orchestras did not use vibrato. That said, aside from the vibrato insanity (and his obvious distaste for the music I’d played for him) he was an engaging and gracious host!
yeah, the way Warner is doing that with the label names is really weird. If you don't want to ever mention EMI, why not just call them the Warner recordings? Why change it to another one of the pre-existing labels under the Warner umbrella (Erato)? I don't get it.
Can’t suck the vocal chords out of voices! 😂😂 and even the scarlet scarf of shame!🤯🤯🤯. My, my…
White scarf, Norrington in title, it means fun video to watch and listen.
For all the people coming to defense of poor Sir Roger, just listen to the Wagner disc. See if you can get through the Dutchman overture. It’s supposed to sound like a storm, it’s the musical equivalent of a five pound chihuahua taking a tinkle.
The opening to Parsifal doesn’t remotely come close to a depiction of the holy grail, more akin to bunch of sorority girls drinking a bad moscato out of a red solo cup.
He’s a complete and total joke.
Stop defending him.
I'm not a musician and I don't know the first thing about being a music critic, but I find it interesting that the few critics I have read seem to have a favorite conductor that they love to diss. For Dave it's Norrington. Martin Bookspan could not stomach Karajan except for a few EMI Bruckner recordings. Jim Svejda found Harnoncourt, Richter and most of Chailly unlistenable. Other critics love these conductors, so I guess it's all a matter of taste just as I expected. I'm not sharp enough to determine a mediocre performance from a good one….I just know what I like.
His recordings actually got played a lot on local radio stations. This video felt like a cathartic release of having to hear those horrors over the years. You were like the Oracle of Delphi in this video!
As I have mentioned before, I first came to this channel surprised at the loathing David had for Norrington, since I bought his Beethoven (hook, line, and sinker) in the 1980s and then most of the Schubert cycle. I didn't enjoy, however the Magic Flute nor Ma Vlast, and definitely prefer the fraudulent (Pierne) to the "authentic" (Norrington) when it comes to Symphonie Fantastique. Your talks have really been eye-(and ear)opening. I always enjoyed Trevor Pinnock and Guenter Wand, so I guess there is hope! Thank You! BTW, the second-hand CD shops now have lots of discarded Norrington, and will soon have more!
But I guess there is a less worst Norrington recordings.
"Reeds made out of authentic French swamp creatures"? Yikes.
ON POINT! An entire recorded era of mediocrity.
I worked with Norrington….he called the Missal solemnis a series of dances…one of the worst I've ever worked with…
I think David is completely wasted limiting his insights to classical music.
Substitute baseball for Roger Norrington and that sport totally makes sense. 🙂
Seriously, it's so refreshing to hear a commentator who knows what he's talking about. I have zero problems with strong opinions IF they can be supported by FACTS, an understanding of historical or economic or cultural contexts, and a clear analysis of individual motivations and biases. David does all this and more.
Bravo.
I'm English btw and this talk rings true about British attitudes to the arts in many areas.
So, I've watched this video twice, and I'm still not sure how DH feels about Norrington … great video!!!
I bought the Beethoven piano concerto set because it was “period” – to hear what it was like – many, many moons ago. When I listened to the very fast (5:47) slow movement of the Emperor I thought “This is weird?” and pulled out the Arrau / Davis recording (8:27). It sort of settled my understanding of their approach. There was just no feeling in it. Arrau makes that slow movement like gazing up at the stars while camping. The Tan version is like Bugs Bunny running in the night.
Never bought the Norrington sound. 🤢
"…reeds made out of authentic swamp creatures."
:-))
I don't know if there is any personal animosity towards Norrington in peculiar or towards the British music establishment in general, but I don't necessarily agree with this vision.
Remind me never to make you mad at me.
Rather than the white scarf of irredeemable chutzpah and a multicoloured truckload of other scarfs, to really match the outrageous crimes committed to music by said individual more appropriate would be to wear 'the black cap' followed by the verdict: "you will be taken from here to the place from whence you came and there be kept in close confinement [untill the day of execution] …..".
The name you were searching for was Robert King (of the King's Consort) who contrary to Norrington is a musician – as was Frans Brüggen, and are W. Christie and Minkowski (the latter when he confines himself to music of the baroque era, that is) and there are others with them within the branch of HIP!
No doubt, Gramophone magazine will be awarding Norrington a(nother?) ‘lifetime achievement’ award in 2023 in response to Dave’s review.
I revere Mr Norrington at least for his sartorial sense, bringing soutanes and other priestly garb to the conductor’s podium. Anyone wishing to hear the sales pitch straight from the horse’s orifice might listen to RN’s interview with Sue Lawley on Desert Island Discs (BBC).
A long time ago, I wrote in a facebook group about the recording of Smetana's "Ma vlast", in which some members of the group wrote that Norrigton's approach was more authentic than the others, which is absurd (if we keep in mind that there are recordings of Czech conductors who grew up in the same musical tradition as Smetana ). There was also this comment:
"all you’re doing is demonstrating is that you like the traditions of how this piece is usually played, not necessarily what Smetana actually wrote. What you call "authenticity“ others might call ”tradition“ or, if one were being unkind, ”laziness.“ I’ve conducted some of this music with Czech orchestras, and they want it to go how it usually goes. That’s what you like, that’s what you want, fine. But at least admit what you want is a recording that conforms to the recorded traditions of the work. Norrington went back to all the sources for this recording, and it’s the first (I believe) that represents anything like the notes the composer actually wrote." – poor guy…
Norrington is the only conductor I have ever refused to work with, again after experiencing the worst Missa Solemnis of all time in London in the early nineties. Norrington wanted it (like everything else) fast and light throughout, nio vibrato of course, and merely laughed when I pointed out the clue in the title, a message from Beethoven if ever there was one. A musical gadfly and an utter charlatan in my view.
Ha ha. Not a fan then? 🤣
I feel obliged to say that when I was a young singer I understudied Dorabella in 'Cosi fan tutte' in Joan Cross's Phoenix Opera company. Roger Norrington sang the tenor role. His voice was awful, but the musicality and inwardness and phrasing in the tenor aria was exquisite, meditative and unforgettable. Ever since that time I have looked in vain for similarly beautiful phrasing from better tenors, but Roger Norrington's interpretation still leads the pack.
Norrington is indeed the George Santos of classical music. If we didn’t have this character Santos, I guess we’d have have to invent him. If that isn’t a depressing commentary on the human condition, I don’t know what is. Norrington’s clearly held great talent in the art of self-promotion.
I seriously brought some chips with me as I prepared to listen to this once and for eternity review of your "favorite" conductor. :)))
I cannot believe you did not start out with all 4 scarves on, as a good case could be made for each of them. However, adding the scarlet one at the end was a deft touch, which had me lol'ing. ;D You can't pan Warner too hard, they have this on their shelves, so they will try to press a honest buck out of it, while the notoriety of the man on the cover still lives – just like they are doing with any former releases they own. It is on us to partake or not!
What seriously struck me most was how unimaginative the full programming was – even conductors from the 78s era, who left very limited recording legacies and hardly had a lot of choice over what to record, had more varied and adventurous choices, containing at least a couple off-the-beaten path pieces or short bon-bons dear to their heart… While Sir Roger just ploughed through the essential late Classical and Romantic repertoire, in an attempt (it seems) to have further points of comparison by which his perversity… erm, difference… could be measured. That, in turn, makes this collection even more useless than otherwise, as all it contains are works recorded literally thousands of times, better.
All in all, although I have heard a couple of the man's records (the Rossini gala included) before and not come off actively offended by them – just feeling it was all kinda bland and joyless… I must modify your statement of "This is the worst … … … … collection of music you will ever hear" by adding 1 letter: "N-ever". Why try and dig deep for some redeemable stuff – that may not really be there – among the wreck, when there are so many options for our short lifetime?..
I really appreciate your work, but this is a gross exaggeration. I am the last one to doubt in the least that Klemperer was a greater conductor than Norrington. But Norrington has his merrits. I remember his first full Beethoven cycle in Stuttgart, I was in all five concerts. He was not presenting a 9th worth discussing. But the 8th was different, new and – worth listening. Quite a few of the other symphonies as well. What I am more critical about is his aggressive rejection of all contemporary music. Last time I heard him was a few years ago in Berlin with a symphony by Martinu – he seemed to plan a full cycle of all symphonies at the time, in my opinion not a very good idea. He is certainly not one of the great conductors of our time. But he has made a certain possitive impact. Saying he is just a fraud, once again, that`s really too much. No, I will not buy this box, there are more important issues. However, just insulting him for more then half an hour, no, I just do not agree.
I read "Norrington" in the title, then saw the white scarf on the thumbnail and immediately knew what I was getting myself into.
Wow, you really don't like Norrington! He may not be the greatest of conductors but I find his engagement with audiences a nice touch at the concerts I have attended. Also, he was embarking on HIP with Beethoven and early romantic repertory from the early days. There is something attractive about being first and as you acknoweldge we were thirsty for new sounds in familiar repertoire. Hearing on familiar repertoire on period instruments is revealing of itself. In terms of Beethoven at least I would disagree that his interpretations lacked interest or validity. In Beethoven, his "thing" was tempi. The LCP recorings publish the metronome markings for each movement. I think slow/sluggish tempi Beethoven is now very rare. That said there is room for opinion in music and life.
Having had the distinct “pleasure” of having to play under Roger Norrington on several occasions I can say with certainty that he was a nasty SoB. What he lacked in the artistic realm he more than made up for in the “lack of human decency” department.
Dave
I agree with you that the best place, and that which most assuredly is the best thing for this particular lorington box set is it's a quick burial, the sooner the better.
But your box set my possibly make it better, far more effective doorstop to protect one of the doors in your house from swaying back and forth than my brick.
About almost 30 years ago, I have The misfortune with wasting money purchasing some allegedly featured BMG classical music compact disc recording performances. Inadvertently I picked up Norrington's recording of Mozart's Don Giovanni, then a three compact disc set, done alternately in the respective Prague and Vienna versions. The method by which this three compact discs it recording was achieved was arranged so that either Norrington or the recording company which I believe is EMI, chose to do this was to make very long compact disc tracks, some of this exceeding being a half an hour in length; some of which had to be bypassed in the track programming process-listening to One track while bypassing some others in order for one to successfully listen one's way, and with successfully wading one's through each one of these respective recorded, allegedly concert versions. Programming my way through that was a nightmare. Even then I realized at that time, now over 30 years ago, that I had purchased that which was a veritable dog in the manger among the west of otherwise decent Mozart Don Giovanni Opera performances, and that this guy, Roger Norrington, was going nowhere with this sort of music conducting, fast. Back when I first Iistened my way through both the respective Prague and the Vienna versions of Don Giovanni I successfully got through it but once, finding that experience almost being completely unbearable-I haven't even picked up the disk box set ever since, because of the release of far superior performances, in which the quality there became no contest. The Don Giovanni brick, which, incidentally makes a rather decent indoor doorstop, was released at a time back before release of the Phillips' bicentennial commemorative Complete Mozart Edition, back in 1991, which I had both the opportunity as well as the Good Fortune with having acquired it, with that Don Giovanni performance being conducted, now regrettably by the now late Sir Colin Davis, which spared the Don any further embarrassment in hell with such mediocre concert length performances of Don Giovanni coming from the likes of, and being spared any further humiliation or desecration coming from such as the likes of a Norrington.. even John Eliot Gardiner execute serve better Don Giovanni than Norrington. Personally, I really fail to see how I can really say anyting good regarding a Norrington performance I've just about pretty much everything.
The Hanover band, for example, while playing it's way throughout an entire Franz Schubert complete symphonies cycle under the baton of a Roy Goodman…? One would scarcely tell that it was the same Orchestra, ensemble, or whatever the case may be, being directed by an entirely different orchestral conductor.
Cheers, and happy listening to everything else.
The entire HIP movement was (is?) a gimmick and bogus. Stop it and start making music.
The feeling I remember having from hearing the few Norrington recordings I listened to during that period is that he made everything he touched sound insignificant in some unsuspected manner, hence the « surprise ». Maybe it was some sort of exploit 😂.