Norrington, Sir Roger (Arthur Carver)

Norrington, Sir Roger (Arthur Carver), scholarly English conductor; b. Oxford, March 16, 1934. He was educated at Clare Coll., Cambridge, and the Royal Coll. of Music in London; was active as a tenor. In 1962 he founded the Schütz Choir in London, with which he first gained notice as a conductor. From 1966 to 1984 he was principal conductor of the Kent Opera, where he produced scores by Monteverdi utilizing his own performing eds. He served as music director of the London Baroque Players (from 1975) and the London Classical Players (from 1978); also was principal conductor of the Bournemouth Sinfonietta (1985–89). On April 2, 1989, he made an auspicious N.Y. debut at Carnegie Hall conducting Beethoven’s 8^th and 9^th syms. In 1990 he became music director of the Orch. of St. Luke’s in N.Y., which post he held until 1994. In 1980 he was made an Officer of the Order of the British Empire; in 1990, a Commander of the Order of the British Empire; in 1996 he was knighted. In 1990 he conducted Die Zauberflöte at the Promenade Concerts in London. In 1997 he conducted Mozart’s Mitridate in Salzburg, where he also became chief conductor of its Camerata Académica that year. In 1998 he also became chief conductor of the Stuttgart Radio Sym. Orch.

Norrington entered controversy by insisting that the classical tempo is basic for all interpretation. He also insisted that Beethoven’s metronome markings, not usually accepted by performers, are in fact accurate reflections of Beethoven’s inner thoughts about his own music. He obtained numerous defenders of his ideas (as one critic put it, “inspired literalism”) for the interpretation of classical music, which aroused sharp interest as well as caustic rejection. However that might be, his performances, especially in the U.S., received a great deal of attention, and he was particularly praised for the accuracy and precision of his interpretations.

—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire